Guitar Amp Cabinet Building from Scratch DIY
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 6 ก.ย. 2024
- Build a guitar amp cabinet like Leo Fender. This is a walkthrough of how I build a Fender style head cabinet from scratch. Tube amps rule and it's great to build them from the ground up. When you're doing it yourself you can customize everything and build exactly what you want. I've included some tips and tricks I use to get great results every time.
Enjoy!
Man, if this video had only been released when I modded my Frontman 212R to turn it into a head + cabinet last year. Glad to see that I followed roughly the same steps though!
I’ll probably make a few more similar videos just so they’re out there for people in the future. Glad yours turned out well!
That was very cool and a great demonstration of what's done. This is something I want to do as a career and make money from. Would love to apply this knowledge to building old combo organ cabinets for people
THERE IS NOT MONEY IN THIS STUFF !!!! PEOPLE THINK YOU SHOULD DO THE WORK FOR FREE...
Another nicely done presentation; you're a real pro.
If I might offer a tidbit of unsolicited advice, I'd say that rather than measure everything (nothing wrong with measuring), it simplifies the process to cut a few spacers out of scrap material. For instance, you know you'll need to leave some clearance for fabric for the chassis; masonite leftovers work perfectly for this. As for the spacing of the chassis within the cabinet, if you have some 1/2' plywood bits (Baltic birch comes to mind), a couple of these make it a snap to locate the chassis front and back. I think the slant on those chassis fronts are 25 degrees, but I could be mistaken.
For squareness (especially on a larger cab), cut some 3" X 3" squares from 3/4" MDF on your table saw sled so you know they are 90 degrees. Clamp all the corners with smaller clamps using these jigs to guarantee squareness, then add the larger clamps to increase clamping pressure; works like a charm. On the same note, if you find yourself doing several similar cuts, it's worth the effort to make yourself a jig out of 3/4" MDF, and then just route out all the cuts.
If you paint the interior surfaces of the cab prior to assembly, you'll save yourself a ton of trouble; there will only be a bit of touch up left to do.
Please keep 'em coming...
Thanks! I appreciate the advice! I do have some jigs cut and quick reference spacers for some builds. My shop carries a lot of different models and most of them are unique to each other so I different tools and notes for each build. I never know what I'll be building day to day. That tip about pre-painting is gold. I hadn't considered that! Thanks!
this has given me the inspiration i needed. greatly appreciated!
Nice! You can do it!
Great video! Thanks so much for sharing, this is incredibly helpful.
Thanks for watching!
Please, how did you arrive at 11/16 for the roundover radius in this case?
Thank you 🖤🎸
What about shielding with metal paper?
i love how you do all your stuff. I feel like i have been a apprentice of yours but at a distance lol because i have learned so much from just a few of your videos. i was the one that you sent the amp cradle planes to. i did get it done and i love it it works so good thank you so very much. the one thing that i did on it was made a extra piece the amp sits on i had to make one double the thickness because the amp i did had the power transformer right on the edge of the side. but now i can switch them out if i need to. so now i am making a cabinet for the amp. and i love how all yours look but i couldn't find the size router bit you use for the round over? is it 5/8 i notice some use 5/8 or 1/2 inch? and then some marshals use 1 inch i would love to know what you think is best? The amp head is a JCM 800 clone and i am mounting it on the bottom. thanks again
Thanks!! I’ve been slammed with orders and my main lens broke but now I’ve repaired it and am looking forward to making more videos after the holidays! I build a lot of cabinets but since I’m a one man shop I don’t film very often. Hopefully I can change that in 2024.
I’m glad the cradle plans worked out for you! As far as roundover bits go some of the differences are predicated on the thickness of the stock chosen to build different models of cabinets. I’m away from my shop at the moment and don’t remember off the top of my head which bit I’ve got. Ideally a set would be nice but don’t get a cheap set. If you have to choose between one really quality one and a set of cheap bits go for the quality. The better the bit the less tear-out. Tear out = bad.
@@FreshOldSchool thanks for getting back to me. I am glad to hear you are busy. i have slowed down to a craw which i expected because of the holidays. after doing some research i bought some white side and Freud bits. when i use to rout trim packages for restaurants i never payed attention to the bits because i did not have to pay for them. but now i wish i would of because we would do 100,s of board feet with a single bit. and tear out man does that suck can ruin a project really fast and your day to lol. i didn't notice if you had any videos of you doing furniture ? that would be really cool to watch because building amps and guitar stuff is fun but making furniture would be great. you take care and stay safe cant wait to see some more builds
Any way to do this without the very expensive looking bunch of tools?
I started with hand tools so yeah it’s possible. You’ll still need to figure out the finger joints or dovetails.
I have a question, are finger joints necessary for head cabinets or just done because they’re traditionally done that way?
Other manufactures can use lap joints or something other than finger/box joints. I think it depends on your material as to how much strength you need. For me the finger joint is worth the extra effort since it’s never going to move. In 50 years it will still be rock solid.
Do you happen to build custom enclosures?
Nice film! Do you know where to find writings with dimensions for a amp head like yours? Building a Princeton head.
Thanks! There used to be a site called ampwares that had all the specs. Now I believe Mojotone owns that site. They build cabinets probably based off the original data from ampwares. So you should be able to scan their site to get dimensions.
really great job dude! Whats the name of tool you use for sand all corners of the wood? 7:32 min
Thanks! It is a router with a 11/16" round-over bit. Be careful with routers tho! They can mess you up!!
@@FreshOldSchool thank you so much for the information. This was helpful. I'll try to make my first DIY cab in a few days. 😀
@@yuribatera9233 You got this!
I really love these type of videos BUT, why don’t they ever start with “Step #1: Get yourself about 7-10 thousand dollars worth of woodworking tools and equipment” 🤣
Haha! I started with crap hand tools in the living room of my rental house in the hood! But that was before TH-cam had anything on it but “Charlie Bit My Finger”. Now any bozo can show you how to hack stuff together with zero tools.
You need a work table. Stop working off the ground for your backs sake 😬
Work looks great though!
Thanks! Having a multi use workspace is challenging. I’ve got plans to build a proper wood shop and will definitely build a proper work table when I do. Until then I’m building up my Mr Burns posture. Haha.
@@FreshOldSchool yes Sir! I damaged my back because of so much working like that.
I learned as I got older 👍