XF 212 Tweed Style

[ajdroid]

Just finished an XF 212 for my son. Had just as much or more on this project as I did building his PA rig awhile back. Design requirements were all his; I'm just the order taker. An XF 212 with Fender Twin style grill cloth and tweed covering (lacquered and tinted to look aged).

Inside is one Swamp Thang and one Texas Heat 12" speakers; both made by Eminence and purchased from speakerhardware.com.

My son's intent is to turn it into a combo cab, but rather than a chassis inside holding the tubes and electronics, we'll be putting the amp on top of the cab, tubes up, and with some kind of perf or expanded metal cage around it for protection. Imagine it will end up looking somewhat like a Vox Night Train. That part of the project is still many weeks away from being completed, but I thought I'd show the naked cab anyway.

In anticipation of needing a larger top to accommodate an amp chassis I added two inches of depth to the original plan. All in all a pretty smooth project, with the exception of the shellacking and lacquering of the backside, which I'll talk about towards the end.

Baffles cut and installed, you can see it's to be removable back style.



After getting the speakers in, I decided to leave them in through the rest of the build as I didn't want to risk spinning T-nuts any more than I had to.



That's a Fender Tweed Twin (Low Power) chassis on top as I try to figure out the best way to get the tubes up combo amp that he wants. Abandoned the idea of using an original chassis and have decided it will need to be something custom. But that's part of the fun, too.



You can see the acoustic foam inside the cab in a few of these pictures. Though I've yet to put the speaker gasket tape around the removable back's flanges.

Fitting the removable back piece.

Speakers in.

Grills on. I've left them on, even after installing the framed grill cloth. My understanding is they don't effect sound so I figure the extra protection couldn't hurt. Grills also bought from Leland.



Sizing and cutting the tweed panels.

Practicing my corners.

Covering coming along. Note the "horns" at each top corner. Those are formed because I rounded all edges except the top ones. Keeping in mind that I'd be putting an amp/cage on top I thought it'd be easier and look nicer to mate to straight edges, not rounded ones. We shall see ...







Assembling the grill frame.

Assembly and covering is finished. Now comes the scary part - lacquer and shellac - and I have zero experience finishing and re-finishing furniture. Never knew how much I loved Duratex until I had to take this step.

A few more pics pre-laquer/shellac.



Notice the dog holes in front of the cab. I drilled them into the workbench after the PA project and before this one. Also added front and end flush mounted vices. Really, really helpful. Something one might want to consider if they haven't already done so. Also, see any glue seeping out around the latches? I didn't either. More on that at the end of this posting.

Love the dog holes.



Masked off. My nails by this time are noticeably shorter.

A practice board with the color we're going for. That's plain tweed on the right for comparison.

Actually, it didn't come out half bad.



In these workbench pics the handle is just sitting there, hadn't screwed it down yet.

I had these two handles made for my son by Bob at http://brookwoodleather.com. He also kindly sent me some tweed finishing tips and pics of one of his own builds for pointers. Utilized much of his advice. Didn't come out as nice as his, but still, all in all, I'm reasonably happy with mine for a first time effort. Encourage you to check out his site - gorgeous craftsmanship.

There's two handles because after the amp is installed on top, we're going to put the handles on the ends. Until then, however, I've got one handle on top.

Cab looks better in better light than my garage provides:






Okay, time now to confess my sins. The quality of the craftsmanship around here is pretty intimidating for a rube like me, so I almost didn't post the next pics ...

The back came out a bit blotchy. I should have left well enough alone, but there were a couple of stains around the removable back's latches where glue had seeped onto the tweed and the shellac dyes it much darker than dry tweed. In my efforts to correct it, match color, try to rematch again, correct the correction, etc., I probably made it worse than if I'd just told my son to live with it. Good thing is, it's the back. Not the top, front, or sides which I'm still pretty pleased with. (In my defense I will say that the pixelation in some of these pics makes it look a little worse than it really does in person.)









For awhile I was pretty discouraged about it. But once I changed the goal of this project (ex post facto) from producing a cab with a "new out of the box look" to producing one with a "pre-distressed, banged around, late nights in smoky bars for decades" look, I could rest comfortably knowing that I clearly had accomplished my objective. Never underestimate the power of re-writing history.

I'll update this when the amp is complete and installed on it, probably won't be until early 2014 though. Until then, son is going to be driving it with something else. I'll report back with his review as soon as he's had a chance to play with his new toy.

[Rickisan]

Beautiful exquisite workmanship. Can't imagine better. The aging looks authentic as well.

I am curious of the logic of using two different speakers? What is the reasoning?

[Tom Smit]

Inspirational!!!

[DJPhatman]

...I am curious of the logic of using two different speakers? What is the reasoning?

+1 mixing drivers, even in "stereo", is bad for the sound. This is especially true with guitar drivers, where the drivers make the tonal difference. I also wonder why you didn't appear to use any kind of dampening material inside.

[sine143]

phatman, he clearly has pictures of the dampening material.

[ajdroid]

Rickisan and Tom, thanks for the kind words.

DJPhatman - I'm glad you mentioned the dampening, as that reminded me of a question I meant to ask. There is dampening in there; if its in the plans, I do it. Was wondering, though, if dampening is such a good thing, why so many of the commercial made cabinets don't seem to be using it. Do guitar players add it themselves later? (I'm not a musician, so don't know the answer.)

Rickisan and DJPhatman - as for the mixing of speakers, seemed odd to me too, but looks like my son knew what he was talking about when he said it was a common practice. Bounced the idea off a prominent member of these boards who says its done all the time and won't be a problem as the speakers are similar in their key characteristics. (He can identify himself if he wants, as I don't want to drag him into a discussion that he may have no interest in). Google searches said pretty much the same thing. What apparently is frowned upon however is mixing bass and sub-drivers. DJP - Since you said "especially guitar drivers", I'd enjoy hearing more of your thinking, but in the end, it's my son's decision.

[Grant Bunter]

Very very noice!

Especially the finish

Not a criticism by any means, where does your son plug in the speaker lead??

[ajdroid]

You've got a sharp eye Grant. The jacks on the inside temporarily, so he'll have to use it open back until we turn it into a combo. Or he tells me where on the back he wants me to install a jack.

Might look funny but I'm going to suggest to him we put an input jack on the top. Then he can play open- or closed-back, the hole will be repurposed by the amp sometime in the future, and we don't punch a hole in the back that one day he'll stop using.

I'll let you know what he decides. Am open to thoughts and ideas.

Thanks for the kind words.

[Bruce Weldy]

Might look funny but I'm going to suggest to him we put an input jack on the top. .

Beautiful cab.....but, PLEASE don't put the jack on the top. I'm always more concerned with function, but that thing is way to pretty to have a plug sticking up out of the top.

[Chris_Allen]

Beautiful cab.....but, PLEASE don't put the jack on the top.

+1 Couldn't agree more - such a beautiful cab and jack on top would just be wrong. I don't have any other suggestions though as the back looks equally stunning!

[DJPhatman]

DJPhatman - I'm glad you mentioned the dampening, as that reminded me of a question I meant to ask. There is dampening in there; if its in the plans, I do it. Was wondering, though, if dampening is such a good thing, why so many of the commercial made cabinets don't seem to be using it. Do guitar players add it themselves later? (I'm not a musician, so don't know the answer.)

<Let me precursor this post by saying I am not a "seasoned" guitar player, but I am teaching myself steel guitar.>
Because most commercial offerings are "designed" by bean-counting marketing executives, who are only interested in maximizing the profit margin of a functioning design, not if the design is scientifically correct. What I saw in your pictures looked more like thin felt fabric. Proper dampening material needs to be a bit thicker to absorb the frequencies that reflect around inside a cabinet, and need to cover any reflective surface. Does this make any difference with an open-back cabinet? I don't know, yet. Bill, care to chime in on this?

Rickisan and DJPhatman - as for the mixing of speakers, seemed odd to me too, but looks like my son knew what he was talking about when he said it was a common practice. Bounced the idea off a prominent member of these boards who says its done all the time and won't be a problem as the speakers are similar in their key characteristics. (He can identify himself if he wants, as I don't want to drag him into a discussion that he may have no interest in). Google searches said pretty much the same thing. What apparently is frowned upon however is mixing bass and sub-drivers. DJP - Since you said "especially guitar drivers", I'd enjoy hearing more of your thinking, but in the end, it's my son's decision.

Mixing drivers in a cabinet is not something I would do, since tone is driver based. Its practice has been around a long time, but makes absolutely no sense to me. In my thought process, this practice just screws the tone from one side of the XF to the other. The whole reason the XF line came about was because of the "laser beam" sound from traditional cabinets.

[jimbo7]

This is exactly how I've been wanting to make my xf212 look. Sadly it's still bare wood. Thanks for the inspiring pics!

Question: I know tweed is pricey, so how was it to cover and glue since this will be my first cover job?

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

if dampening is such a good thing, why so many of the commercial made cabinets don't seem to be using it.

For the same reason why they place drivers side by side, and all the other things that are intrinsically wrong: Because that's how they've always done it. The state of mainstream electric guitar cab design has not fundamentally changed since 1960, and in 1960 those who designed electric guitar cabs didn't follow any of the then known conventions of loudspeaker design, because they were unaware of them.

as for the mixing of speakers, seemed odd to me too, but looks like my son knew what he was talking about when he said it was a common practice. Bounced the idea off a prominent member of these boards who says its done all the time

Which points out that the situation hasn't changed.

[ajdroid]

Bill - Thanks for weighing in on dampening material, but I'm unclear by your answer as to whether you think mixing guitar speakers in a cab is a good or bad practice?

DJP - thanks for the additional info. FWIW that's 1" thick acoustic foam inside the cab.

Jimbo7 - it wasn't a difficult process, just take your time. Do one panel an evening if you want. I used Loctite (sp?) II wood glue, spread evenly over the wood, then pressed and smoothed the tweed down. You'll get the handle on corners. Then two coats of lacquer, as many coats of orange tinted shellac as you need to get the color you want, followed by another 2-3 coats of lacquer again. I found this thread here to be VERY helpful: http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/DIY-Do ... p/31339857. Good luck!

Edited 10/29/13 - Also meant to remind about being especially diligent about not letting glue get on top of the tweed. I would spread the glue about a 1/2" shy from any fabric edge. Pressing it usually got the glue up to the edge without leaking out. If you look at latches on the removable back (in the very last pic) you'll see what looks like darker shadows partially surrounding them. Glue on top of the fabric. Didn't show up when I laquered but was their immediately when the shellac hit, like invisible ink suddenly being revealed. Its those buggers that put me on my "try-to-fix-it, match-the-color, make-things-worse, better-just-learn-to-live-with-it" odyssey that I mentioned above.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

I'm unclear by your answer as to whether you think mixing guitar speakers in a cab is a good or bad practice?

Very bad. There's no logic to it, unless you know nothing about how speakers work. That, unfortunately, is very much the case within the electric guitar community. But it does put those who don't know how speakers work in good company, as neither did Leo Fender and Jim Marshall, to whom the continuing poor state of electric guitar cab engineering can be directly attributed.