Wigwam Jones
Caesar non supra grammati
This cabinet was given to me by a guy whom I've purchased a few speakers from before; he was advertising it as 'free to a good home' on CL, and I am hoping to restore it to its former glory.
It is a Stromberg-Carlson RH-416 cabinet, which is definitely rare these days. I found only a couple of online references to it (and thanks to the AK guys who helped me out there).
http://books.google.com/books?id=9iU...nth"&f=false
http://edisoneffect.blogspot.com/201...adio-with.html
http://americanradiohistory.com/Arch...o-1958-Oct.pdf
I've got it home now, what a whopper! It is roughly 33 inches tall by 33 inches wide, and 21 inches deep. Very heavy, even with no drivers in it. Appears to be made of thick plywood with thick walnut veneer. I think it's walnut, anyway. The choices were apparently mahogany, walnut, or limed oak, and it doesn't look like mahogany or limed oak to me.
Here you can see the massive grill on the front, heavily stained. Also there is some veneer missing from the front edge on the left.
20140615_130558 by Wigwam Jones, on Flickr
The top is very scratched up; those scratches are quite deep. There are serious chips and missing veneer on both ends. From that, I can see that the veneer is quite thick, but I don't know how well I could sand through those scratches without making the top very uneven, and I really don't know how to fix those missing veneer chips. I mean, I've seen some videos and seen some instructions on the web, but I'm far from a woodworker. I can strip, sand, and stain, but that's about it, and I'm not even an expert with that.
Here it is with the grill removed.
20140615_130751 by Wigwam Jones, on Flickr
You can see that the baffle has a cutout for the 15 inch full-range or coax type driver. That's a baffle you see behind it; it extends most of the way to the left of the cabinet as you face it, then it bends around and returns, then it exits from a 1 foot rectangular opening in the bottom of the cabinet. That's the 'folded horn' or 'infinite baffle' or early 'transmission line' design. Remember, this speaker is from about 1958. S-C called it "Acoustical Labyrinth," for whatever that's worth. The sound goes around and around and around and it comes out here (for those who remember that old gag).
The knock-outs you see on the left were for a 12 inch and two small tweeters. I guess you could cover up the 15 inch hole and mount a 12 inch woofer and a mid and a tweeter, plus a crossover network. But to be honest, I'd kind of like to try my hand at a full range driver of some kind. Something inexpensive, this is an experiment. I was thinking a Utah or an Electro-Voice Wolverine, something efficient with a whizzer cone. This cabinet was supposedly a bass monster, due to the internal construction, so I was thinking that maybe even a lesser driver with stiff paper surrounds could still crank out some bass in a box like this; and I'm not a huge bass-head anyway.
I noticed that the baffle board is removable without too much effort; it's held in with a bunch of Allen-head bolts. It doesn't even extend to the inside edges of the cabinet for some reason. It would theoretically be possilble, I reckon, to completely redesign and repurpose this cabinet. However, I think I'd like to more or less keep it as it is and restore it to its former glory.
I was thinking of pairing this with my recently-acquired little Voice of Music monophonic amp.
IMGP2943_v1 by Wigwam Jones, on Flickr
I've also got an old Garrard record changer that might work to let me play some old monophonic LPs and 78s.
So, it's time to start thinking about how I'm going to refinish the cabinet. I believe I'll be able to strip the sides and front without any major issues; there is some finish loss, but it doesn't look like much physical damage, if any. The big problem is going to be the top.
So tell me, woodworkers, what would you suggest? I've never done a re-veneer before, but I guess I'm willing to try. The top is a big rectangular slab, no weird corners or angles to worry about, so I suppose it would be relatively easy?
Open to suggestions. Well, anything except "Econowave it!" Not planning to do that, thanks. :thmbsp:
It is a Stromberg-Carlson RH-416 cabinet, which is definitely rare these days. I found only a couple of online references to it (and thanks to the AK guys who helped me out there).
http://books.google.com/books?id=9iU...nth"&f=false
http://edisoneffect.blogspot.com/201...adio-with.html
http://americanradiohistory.com/Arch...o-1958-Oct.pdf
NOTE: By the way, I learned a new word from the advertisements above. Apparently, the correct word at the time for the surrounds was 'skiver'. Who knew?
I've got it home now, what a whopper! It is roughly 33 inches tall by 33 inches wide, and 21 inches deep. Very heavy, even with no drivers in it. Appears to be made of thick plywood with thick walnut veneer. I think it's walnut, anyway. The choices were apparently mahogany, walnut, or limed oak, and it doesn't look like mahogany or limed oak to me.
Here you can see the massive grill on the front, heavily stained. Also there is some veneer missing from the front edge on the left.
20140615_130558 by Wigwam Jones, on FlickrThe top is very scratched up; those scratches are quite deep. There are serious chips and missing veneer on both ends. From that, I can see that the veneer is quite thick, but I don't know how well I could sand through those scratches without making the top very uneven, and I really don't know how to fix those missing veneer chips. I mean, I've seen some videos and seen some instructions on the web, but I'm far from a woodworker. I can strip, sand, and stain, but that's about it, and I'm not even an expert with that.
Here it is with the grill removed.
20140615_130751 by Wigwam Jones, on FlickrYou can see that the baffle has a cutout for the 15 inch full-range or coax type driver. That's a baffle you see behind it; it extends most of the way to the left of the cabinet as you face it, then it bends around and returns, then it exits from a 1 foot rectangular opening in the bottom of the cabinet. That's the 'folded horn' or 'infinite baffle' or early 'transmission line' design. Remember, this speaker is from about 1958. S-C called it "Acoustical Labyrinth," for whatever that's worth. The sound goes around and around and around and it comes out here (for those who remember that old gag).
The knock-outs you see on the left were for a 12 inch and two small tweeters. I guess you could cover up the 15 inch hole and mount a 12 inch woofer and a mid and a tweeter, plus a crossover network. But to be honest, I'd kind of like to try my hand at a full range driver of some kind. Something inexpensive, this is an experiment. I was thinking a Utah or an Electro-Voice Wolverine, something efficient with a whizzer cone. This cabinet was supposedly a bass monster, due to the internal construction, so I was thinking that maybe even a lesser driver with stiff paper surrounds could still crank out some bass in a box like this; and I'm not a huge bass-head anyway.
I noticed that the baffle board is removable without too much effort; it's held in with a bunch of Allen-head bolts. It doesn't even extend to the inside edges of the cabinet for some reason. It would theoretically be possilble, I reckon, to completely redesign and repurpose this cabinet. However, I think I'd like to more or less keep it as it is and restore it to its former glory.
I was thinking of pairing this with my recently-acquired little Voice of Music monophonic amp.
IMGP2943_v1 by Wigwam Jones, on FlickrI've also got an old Garrard record changer that might work to let me play some old monophonic LPs and 78s.
So, it's time to start thinking about how I'm going to refinish the cabinet. I believe I'll be able to strip the sides and front without any major issues; there is some finish loss, but it doesn't look like much physical damage, if any. The big problem is going to be the top.
So tell me, woodworkers, what would you suggest? I've never done a re-veneer before, but I guess I'm willing to try. The top is a big rectangular slab, no weird corners or angles to worry about, so I suppose it would be relatively easy?
Open to suggestions. Well, anything except "Econowave it!" Not planning to do that, thanks. :thmbsp:
