# Cabinet construction... what kind of wood?



## EchoWD40 (Mar 16, 2007)

Well i have 2 questions. i am going to attempt to build a guitar head cabinet. 
I want to know what kind of wood i should grab for this build? The cabinet is going to be heavy as the amp is a 72 watts, so there is a lot of weight on it.
Also, how should i do the joints of this cabinet? 
i am really confused how most people make these...


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

Will you be tolexing the head cabinet? I ask as this could have an influence on which types of wood (e.g., various hardwoods or baltic birch, etc) would be suggested.

Cheers

Dave


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

when I built my head cabinet (for my JCM800) I used pine. It's cheap and easy to work. I did tolex it though.
Do you have a table saw and dado blades? I used box joints, glue, no fasteners. You can make a simple home made jig to run them.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Pine can look great, but as a softwood it doesn't take the bump'n'grind as well as hardwood. Sure is easy to work as Don said. I've done birch plywood with veneered edges and it looked okay too. Tolex can look great, but it's best over ply so that it's more stable in atmospheric changes. The best joints will be dovetail or finger joints. If you choose to butt join the corners keep in mind that they are not equally strong from all sides so joinery should be done in favour of weight/load bearing.

Peace, Mooh.


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## EchoWD40 (Mar 16, 2007)

I more then likely will not be tolexing the cabinet. I more then likely will just finish with an oil (tung oil i think would work) or some sort of laquer. If i wanted to, i might send it to my friend so he can paint some crazy artwork on it... I would obviously finish that as well. 

i do not own a table saw or dado blades, however i have a fairly large mitre saw. I would be willing to source myself a tablesaw for this project if necessary. 
As for the dado blades, i assume these are for the joints and edges correct? 

As for the joints, i have ZERO experience doing anything but butt joints. I would be willing to get a jig so i can try to do the finger joints as it doesn't look too tedious, but yet again i have no experience with it. 

The amp will probably weigh in around the 40 lb mark. 
-Tom


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## Jean GODBOUT (Oct 31, 2009)

*Cabinet joint*

Hello

May I suggest you this page : Vibroverb clone made with a Fender Bandmaster Reverb head 

It's a Fender Vibroverb clone cabinet made of 3/4 inch thick pine with hand made box joint (some call it finger joint) one inchs wide with a 1/4 inch hard wood dowell pins. Very stong joint and relatively easy to do without ''special'' tooling using pine. 

Good luck


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## shoretyus (Jan 6, 2007)

TDeneka said:


> I more then likely will not be tolexing the cabinet. I more then likely will just finish with an oil (tung oil i think would work) or some sort of laquer. If i wanted to, i might send it to my friend so he can paint some crazy artwork on it... I would obviously finish that as well.
> 
> i do not own a table saw or dado blades, however i have a fairly large mitre saw. I would be willing to source myself a tablesaw for this project if necessary.
> As for the dado blades, i assume these are for the joints and edges correct?
> ...


Got a handsaw?.....


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

I wouldn't buy a set of dado blades for one head cab, but if you can borrow a set somewhere they are a fast way to make a solid joint.
Here's a pic of the homemade jig: http://www.wagarweb.com/temp/boxjoint1.jpg
With a little fine tuning, you can make a joint that doesn't need fasteners.

Since you don't want tolex, I'd suggest you use a nice hardwood. Rabbit the joints, use an inner block for fastening so you have no visible fasteners. Draw it all out beforehand, check all your dimensions 2 or 3X before you hit the saw.


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## greco (Jul 15, 2007)

dwagar said:


> Draw it all out beforehand, check all your dimensions 2 or 3X before you hit the saw.


The voice of wisdom and experience.

Cheers

Dave


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## dwagar (Mar 6, 2006)

greco said:


> The voice of wisdom and experience.
> 
> Cheers
> 
> Dave


and many, many mistakes, lol.


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