Kustom Tuck-n-Roll Column Revival
Posted: Fri Apr 13, 2012 5:43 pm
When one of my best friends told me that his new, upstart church desperately needed speaker cabs, I offered my old Kustom columns. They ordered all of the needed new components, they finally all arrived, then he asked me if there was any way that we could have them done for Easter services, which was only days away. Since I was off of work on Friday and Saturday, I told him that I'd gitterdun. It was quite a task, but they were finally complete at 3AM, Easter morning.
Here are the cabs, stripped down and ready for renovation:
Here are the MCM 55-2960 drivers that were used ... BEEFY:
Both cabs got new Peavey feet:
The new Penn-Elcom handles fit the bill perfectly, replacing the mangled original luggage handles:
Here's a shot of "the guts", almost complete:
Here's a shot of the new baffle with everything mounted, before the grill cloth application:
Here's the finished grill cloth on the baffle:
Sammy and I at 3AM Easter morning, cabs complete:
The moment of truth ... all we had handy was a cheapo bass guitar and a 100w Peavey bass head for the cabs' maiden voyage (yes, the ugly old hippie on the bass is me LOL):
First, the downside ... For several reasons, I had to rear-mount all of the drivers. Not a big deal for the woofers, but I hated doing that with the piezos. I have no idea how much of a difference that makes compared to if they could have been front-mounted, but they sound great, with excellent off-axis response, so as far as I'm concerned, it worked. Also, since all we had to work with was basic hand tools, I couldn't trim and glue the piezos. They were mounted individually, flush to each other, then they were caulked all around and over the seams.
The upside ... both cabs work perfectly and sound AWESOME. When we fired-up the first cab and I hit a few notes on the bass, Sammy's eyes lit-up and a big smile was on his face. For me, that made it all worth it. I was actually amazed at the cabs' extension. Low E was gorgeous, with excellent depth and clarity. For comparison, he plugged his Fender 4x10 cab in (same bass and amp) ... no comparison ... the Kustoms had it beat, hands down, by a mile.
Just hours later, the cabs were playing at the church for Easter morning services. I wasn't there, but Sammy said that they sounded great, and the pastor was very happy.
And now for the props ... my girlfriend, Lisa, helped me with this entire project, from start to finish. I'm not talking just handing me tools and stuff like that; she was right in the thick of it, 100%, and she was incredible. I absolutely could not have gotten this done on time without her, and the finished results definitely would not have been as good. She'll never read this, so I'm not saying this for brownie points. She flat-out ROCKED it!
Here are the cabs, stripped down and ready for renovation:
Here are the MCM 55-2960 drivers that were used ... BEEFY:
Both cabs got new Peavey feet:
The new Penn-Elcom handles fit the bill perfectly, replacing the mangled original luggage handles:
Here's a shot of "the guts", almost complete:
Here's a shot of the new baffle with everything mounted, before the grill cloth application:
Here's the finished grill cloth on the baffle:
Sammy and I at 3AM Easter morning, cabs complete:
The moment of truth ... all we had handy was a cheapo bass guitar and a 100w Peavey bass head for the cabs' maiden voyage (yes, the ugly old hippie on the bass is me LOL):
First, the downside ... For several reasons, I had to rear-mount all of the drivers. Not a big deal for the woofers, but I hated doing that with the piezos. I have no idea how much of a difference that makes compared to if they could have been front-mounted, but they sound great, with excellent off-axis response, so as far as I'm concerned, it worked. Also, since all we had to work with was basic hand tools, I couldn't trim and glue the piezos. They were mounted individually, flush to each other, then they were caulked all around and over the seams.
The upside ... both cabs work perfectly and sound AWESOME. When we fired-up the first cab and I hit a few notes on the bass, Sammy's eyes lit-up and a big smile was on his face. For me, that made it all worth it. I was actually amazed at the cabs' extension. Low E was gorgeous, with excellent depth and clarity. For comparison, he plugged his Fender 4x10 cab in (same bass and amp) ... no comparison ... the Kustoms had it beat, hands down, by a mile.
Just hours later, the cabs were playing at the church for Easter morning services. I wasn't there, but Sammy said that they sounded great, and the pastor was very happy.
And now for the props ... my girlfriend, Lisa, helped me with this entire project, from start to finish. I'm not talking just handing me tools and stuff like that; she was right in the thick of it, 100%, and she was incredible. I absolutely could not have gotten this done on time without her, and the finished results definitely would not have been as good. She'll never read this, so I'm not saying this for brownie points. She flat-out ROCKED it!
