Thomas McCurnin
09-10-2022, 11:20 PM
I was given some Advent vintage speaker cabinets from the 1970s which in the day were pretty good and even today are collectable. They are small like 8x8x20. They were painted white over walnut veneer. When trying to remove the paint with a light coat of stripper, a fair amount of the original walnut veneer came off the original mdf. My sense is to give up and just paint them black and be done with it, or try to replace the veneer, one side at a time. This second option is why I post this question.
I've done a fair amount of veneering, with solid real wood over mdf using cawls and hide glue with good results. Hide glue and strong clamps may not work here because in my experience, hide glue is not that tacky, not like contact cement, and does require a significant amount of clamping pressure, and I don't want to crush these cabinets. In my mind, I have a couple options here, although the Sawmill Creek Brain Trust undoubtedly is smarter than I am.
1. Paper Backed Veneer with Heat Lock Glue. This seems to be the go to choice in the AV world. I've never used it, and assume that I would remove all old veneer, do a light sanding and apply the glue and use an iron to activate the glue, and probably finish up with some light clamps and cawls just in case. Again, this seems to be what 80% of the AV speaker guys seem to use.
2. Real Veneer with Hide Glue. Again, I assume I'll remove all the old veneer give the hide glue a chance with moderate pressure. I'm really not to confident that this will work in my experience, as hide glue needs a fair amount of pressure or I get bubbles .
3. Use Vacuum Press and Cold Press Glue. I don't have one, but for $3-400, I can get a vacuum pump and a bag, although since the bags are flat, I would need an oversize one to accommodate the 7" wide speakers. I do understand that these technique is mainly for flat panels. Obviously, I'd remove the woofers and tweeters and cross overs before subjecting the cabinet to this pressure. Frankly, since the speaker cabinets have sharp corners, I question whether the vinyl compressed over corners would damage the vinyl.
I'll note that the cost of the veneer, glue, and possibly a press will far exceed the value of these speakers and their intended use is for a wilderness cabin, so perfect looks is not terribly important. I'll have the electronics looked at, and suspect that my AV guy will want to replace the Tweeter or Woofer, or both at an expense of about $300 for the pair. I can buy a used pair, electronics untested, and the cabinet in decent shape for about $300 shipped.
Has anyone here veneered a speaker cabinet?
I've done a fair amount of veneering, with solid real wood over mdf using cawls and hide glue with good results. Hide glue and strong clamps may not work here because in my experience, hide glue is not that tacky, not like contact cement, and does require a significant amount of clamping pressure, and I don't want to crush these cabinets. In my mind, I have a couple options here, although the Sawmill Creek Brain Trust undoubtedly is smarter than I am.
1. Paper Backed Veneer with Heat Lock Glue. This seems to be the go to choice in the AV world. I've never used it, and assume that I would remove all old veneer, do a light sanding and apply the glue and use an iron to activate the glue, and probably finish up with some light clamps and cawls just in case. Again, this seems to be what 80% of the AV speaker guys seem to use.
2. Real Veneer with Hide Glue. Again, I assume I'll remove all the old veneer give the hide glue a chance with moderate pressure. I'm really not to confident that this will work in my experience, as hide glue needs a fair amount of pressure or I get bubbles .
3. Use Vacuum Press and Cold Press Glue. I don't have one, but for $3-400, I can get a vacuum pump and a bag, although since the bags are flat, I would need an oversize one to accommodate the 7" wide speakers. I do understand that these technique is mainly for flat panels. Obviously, I'd remove the woofers and tweeters and cross overs before subjecting the cabinet to this pressure. Frankly, since the speaker cabinets have sharp corners, I question whether the vinyl compressed over corners would damage the vinyl.
I'll note that the cost of the veneer, glue, and possibly a press will far exceed the value of these speakers and their intended use is for a wilderness cabin, so perfect looks is not terribly important. I'll have the electronics looked at, and suspect that my AV guy will want to replace the Tweeter or Woofer, or both at an expense of about $300 for the pair. I can buy a used pair, electronics untested, and the cabinet in decent shape for about $300 shipped.
Has anyone here veneered a speaker cabinet?