YABFMJTLJ (Yet Another BFM Jack 10 Lite Journey)

[AKLiving]

Placing the finished speaker pic at the beginning for those that don’t want to read through the build.
Apologies for the garage lighting making it look a little splotchy.

For my son's 16th birthday he wanted to learn electric guitar. He's played piano for about 10 years and enjoys it but started to enjoy alternative music and wants to play along (piano doesn't quite work for what he listens to). Mom has played piano. I've played French Horn, trumpet, baritone, sax (barely) and penny whistle.
Not having ever tried any guitar and not having family or friends that do he was reasonable and went with a budget friendly setup. We got him a Squire Affinity Strat and Fender Mustang LT40. He's been having fun and has no aspirations to play in a band or public at this time.

What does this have to do with building a Jack 10? The Fender Mustang sounds quite nice in his bedroom where he plays.
Bear with me, I'll get there.

After spending a little more than usual for birthday presents and getting it more than a month early (his "reasoning" was having time in the summer to learn) he had one more request. Really, already needing a better amp and speaker already? No, worse. Something I couldn't say no to. "Dad, could you learn bass so we could play together sometime?" Seriously, a 16 year old asking if his dad will do something with him. He knew I couldn't say no. But I've never played bass and have no clue. I tried violin when young but couldn't hear pitch well enough to know if I had the right notes.

I'm getting there, I promise.

So, I started looking for deals. Something used. Where I live there weren't any options in that category. How about new? FORGEEEET IT. Way too expensive. OK then, with my internet ninja skills I found and incredible deal on a Sterling Stingray 34 that only had a few mars. Being way less than 1/2 the price of new I was expecting photo shop editing and I'd get something in the mail that looked like it was used by a bassist that smashed their stuff on stage.

SCORE! I may not know bass very well (though I can listen to all the youtube 'experts') but this thing sounds great. Great on my son's Mustang LT40 that is.

I bet you see where I'm going now. Did you notice the local find in the back ground?
Getting an amp in town is even worse. I found what I fondly call "Cat Piss Peavey". The price was right but once I got it home and all the animals thought I brought home the best smelling thing on the planet. Was that the smell of every cat in the neighborhood peeing on it for a marker? OK, the price was right, I mean almost free. I can deal with it. After hearing all the pops, scratches, drop outs and having that smell I tore it down to sanitize and clean the electrical contacts and pots. The cab had been repaired multiple times and my cat tried to sleep in it while it was drying and it was still gutted.
Back together and the smell is gone and no more electrical issues.

Almost there.....
But it still didn't sound nearly as good as my son's guitar amp. Those little 4" speakers sounded much more full than the Peavey 10". Hmmm, not much else I could do. I know, I'll build one!

And that landed me here. Wow, someone that really knows what they are talking about in speaker design. Well, at least it sounds like it. How should I know, I'm have no clue. But I can say one thing. I couldn't find anything negative to read about these BFM designs. I mean nothing. That's unheard of when more people are willing to post complaints than compliments.

Decided on a Jack 10 or 12. Since I doubt I'll ever play outside of my house and I wanted to take up as little room as possible in my bedroom/practice room I decide on a Jack 10. I got plans for both 10 and 12 and both regular and Lites. I love to learn new things and push myself so decided the Lites will challenge my carpentry skills a little more plus I'm more of an ultralight guy in all my activities (my family 6 man tent with a wood stove is less than 7 lbs total).

I got some birch ply (ouch $$) from the only source withing 350 miles. It seems much better than regular 'premium' plywood.
Used the CutList Optimizer and ripped all my long cuts. I don't have pick of that.
The next day I made a couple of table saw sleds. Why have I never made these before!!? And now I start my journey. I"ll try to post my daily progress. This will probably be photo intensive from here out with not as much diarrhea of the keyboard.

Here's getting started.

All the straight cuts done. Enough for 2 cabs. One to start with and learn what works, what doesn't, and what I need to improve on.

That 1/8' ply is stiff. I can't see bending it easily. I read another person pre-bending so I'll give that a try.

I grew up going to auctions so couldn't turn down going to a recent one. This little deal worked out great. Yeah, I know, there is no way to sand that curve on a flat disc. I was just trying it out and finished on the curve of the belt.

[AKLiving]

*delete* figured it out and fixed the post.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Photos tend to show up in landscape format, so that's why some are rotated. No worries, but to be sure they look right when posted crop them if they're higher than they are wide. If you're using a phone rotate the phone to horizontal. As for criticisms, they were rampant when we started out some 20 years ago. 20 years later we're still here and the naysayers have faded away.

[AKLiving]

Photos tend to show up in landscape format, so that's why some are rotated. No worries, but to be sure they look right when posted crop them if they're higher than they are wide. If you're using a phone rotate the phone to horizontal. As for criticisms, they were rampant when we started out some 20 years ago. 20 years later we're still here and the naysayers have faded away.

Glad you got rid of naysayers. They were trolling anyway. I checked other forums as well. It's easy to spot people that don't have actual experience with something or those with personal agendas. I just look past those.
Thank you Bill for not only offering this product for a nominal cost but the even more valuable part, the forums and your personal help with people. Your website fosters learning much more than others.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

That's what we strive for, 'we' being the community here. There are three kinds of people who frequent technical forums. Those who want to learn, those who want to teach, and those who want to argue. We just don't get those who want to argue here.

[Tom Smit]

AKLiving, welcome to the forum!
Such great news to hear, about your son wanting you to join him!
Enjoy your building journey!

[9830Lark]

Loving my J10 Lite for my mediocre bass playing. Enjoy the ride!

[AKLiving]

It’s been a rough couple of days at work. I’ve had time to work on it but no time to post. I’ll try to play catch up tomorrow. A lot has been done including learning and trying new things.

A sneak peak at something I’m trying. Will it work? Dunno but I’ll have either learned if I like it or never do it again.

[AKLiving]

Loving my J10 Lite for my mediocre bass playing. Enjoy the ride!

Thanks. And I can’t wait to hit mediocre in my skills.

[AKLiving]

I got a lot done over the past few days and had a lot of fun watching pain and glue dry.
This was my first time using polyurethane adhesive. Man that stuff is like frog spit between two pieces of wood. When you line everything up you better check it again after clamping because it likely shifted.

A goal of mine with every project is to learn something new. Even the little stuff. This project was the same.
Don't hesitate to give a helpful critique. There is always room for improvement or seeing it in a different way.

I made circles on a table saw for the first time. Meh. I like that it is super easy and quick. But if you want a more finished wheel you have to add that time in as well. I 'd definitely make wood discs this was in the future if it wasn't important to have it for appearance.

I cut multiple pieces when possible to keep things as uniform as I could.

A new day.
What else can I try? My router skills with wood are still rudimentary. I'm getting pretty good at hand milling aluminum with a premade jig. Hmmm. Now that I think of it making my own jigs could be really helpful.

I like that. I think I'd prefer to do this on a router table and push up through the template instead of drilling holes but I don't have a table. Maybe next time.

Final product. It makes me want to find something else to make.
You can see that the disc I made with the table saw was not perfect and this translated exactly as it should onto the final product. The location will hide it from anyone noticing, but I'll know.

[AKLiving]

I must have hit my photos/post limit. I gave fair warning about lots of pictures. I seem to either take a ton or none at all. This hasn't been too frustrating of a project so I remembered to take photos.


Ok, lets figure out how to make circles with the router since I have it out and then compare.
Oooolaaalaaa. Mikey likes it, he really likes it. It's messy but ooooh so smooth and finished.

Drawing the layout per plans.
Now that I'm far enough along I question the reason for spending that much time on drawing it out. Maybe someone can correct me or add insight.
Having spent time making the braces as precise as I could I only found drawing it out a waste of time other than knowing where to staple the speaker baffle brace thing. Lining everything up with the lines I feel made it harder for me and I think I would have better overall alignment of things if I had just used the setback jig for the braces keeping them back 1/8" from the front and then aligned the baffle to be flush with the braces. Hopefully that makes sense. I made enough rough cut pieces I can make another and may try that my way next time.

Duratex or other texture anywhere besides the outside where you need protection wasn't the look I was going for. Unfortunately the styro ball is rough to begin with. Applied wood filler to smooth it out for painting.

[AKLiving]

Hit my limit again.
Hopefully I''m not breaking any rules (stated or unstated).

I also wanted to go for a more vibrant color. I never stained wood with Rit Dye before so in staying with the learning process theme I gave it a try. Looks good. The process, so so.
If you try this make sure you having sanding done first and take your time to continue rubbing it in to avoid splotches. It comes off easy like when you use masking tape but easy to reapply and quick to dry. Overall I like it.

I needed to do something while the glue dried. I know, lets try to make a crossover. I have the parts.
Following the diagrams... easy. Knowing what is actually going on... way above my knowledge. I thought for sure a copper wire between + and - would short and so nothing would go to the speaker. Clearly I haven't a clue. Oh well, it was fun.
Sprayed a piece of 1/8" scrap with Plasti Dip to insulate even more, add some vibration dampening, and look better..... Who am I kidding. I'm filling time to wait for the PL to dry.
I know, Wago lever nuts are probably not the best choice. I had them and its easy to get rid of since I just hot glued them in. Provide feedback if you know for sure this is a bad idea.

Ok, this one I really hope someone (cough, cough, Bill, cough, cough) or other seasoned builder can help me understand.
Instead of multiple steps and the difficulty fastening the throat sheath braces (directions say use hot melt glue due to difficulty) why not dry fit to make sure it fits then glue it up before installing. This worked out better than what it seemed like in the directions. By the way, I fully accept failures when I veer from plans. I've learned way more from my failures than from my successes.

I'm hoping to upload a finished, or nearly finished speaker by Monday.

[Bill Fitzmaurice]

Regarding crossovers: https://www.bcae1.com/xoorder.htm

[9830Lark]

Fiebings Leather Dye also works quite well for wood. It'll also dye Bondo wood filler where it's almost indistinguishable from the wood. Learned this when I accidentally drilled through the back of my bass body while doing the bridge ground, whoops!

[AKLiving]

Fiebings Leather Dye also works quite well for wood. It'll also dye Bondo wood filler where it's almost indistinguishable from the wood. Learned this when I accidentally drilled through the back of my bass body while doing the bridge ground, whoops!

Thanks. I went with Rit mostly because it was available. Local options for most things are very limited.
Next time I’ll plan ahead and try the leather dye.