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Early Wharfedale W70's - Biggles' dream is realized!

Brian said:
Wish you were in Toronto. You cabinets are in very good condition but the finish is faded on the bottom of one and is quite noticeable. As otherwise they are in good condition I would not try to improve the finish but, you seem to have the formula. I have tries a couple of those liquid refinished but, not luck.
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Hi Brian,

I think what I might do later on today, is to post the issues with the veneer. With the light sanding I was able to remove maybe 70% of the scratches/gouges. Honestly, I'm not so worried about them. I find that with oiling they only bring character to the final product. However, the veneer was considerably thinner than it should have been and sanded right through. There are also fairly large areas where the veneer has actually rotted, deteriorated away and left pock marks between the grain.

It's not as nice as it looks from a few feet away.

Biggles
 
W70021.jpg


I would like to thank Doctorolds greatly for all his time and effort over the last few days. He's been an integral part in attempts to put this puzzle back together again. It makes a huge difference when you can bounce ideas back and forth, ya know?

Last night he and I were discussing huge plans, going one way or going a completely different direction. I headed out this morning to sit down and talk with the W70's and see what they thought, see if they had any opinions. If you listen, they will tell you what they want.

I'm not sure if they didn't get enough sleep last night, or what the deal is, but they were in a very foul mood. But what with their English accent, it wasn't as foul sounding as it could have been. The sanded enclosure went so far as to throw the grill frame at me !!!!! I'd just had my cup of coffee, so I was able to catch it before it left any bruises. Anger issues from a speaker, yeesh.

Essentially what came of it was that they brow beat me and said that if I didn't take this opportunity to do a complete, new veneer job, that I'd always be a worthless piece of shite. "You Americans always want to take the easy way out, can't even do one days worth of hard work."

Armed with a belt sander loaded with 100 grit, my palm sander loaded with 40 grit, I took the bitch down. 1 hour and 20 minutes later? Nearly ready for new veneer on all 4 sides.

Biggles

Biggles
 
It will be nice for you to look at them and say: "I did the right thing with those". Nice work...very inspiring.....Spooker
 
Thank you, I agree. The second enclosure would have done fine with the typical sand and oil. But this one was not, no sir.

Now, off to place my order and get those veneering supplies on their way.

Biggles
 
Successfully got my W70D's home this evening.Turns out that they are in better shape than the pics indicated?! The tops will need "the treatment" to be sure but the rest looks sweet.Turns out an Army officer brought these back from Europe,they had been in storage for many years until seller got them approx a year ago free.They are stock.I still need to get them set up and take a listen...then some pics and re-assess work needed.I can't believe you have bite the bullet and are going to re-veneer! Not me:no:,now don't you try to pressure me.
 
phatster said:
Successfully got my W70D's home this evening.Turns out that they are in better shape than the pics indicated?! The tops will need "the treatment" to be sure but the rest looks sweet.Turns out an Army officer brought these back from Europe,they had been in storage for many years until seller got them approx a year ago free.They are stock.I still need to get them set up and take a listen...then some pics and re-assess work needed.I can't believe you have bite the bullet and are going to re-veneer! Not me:no:,now don't you try to pressure me.
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Yeah! Congratulations mang, sounds like a great adventure. If they were mine, I'd bypass the refinish. If it's just the tops or one top, for me, it's not worth refinishing both speakers. Here's how I handled one of the tops of my ADC-18's.

ADC18015.jpg


Biggles
 
GD70 said:
Crack that whip! :banana:
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Give the pass a slip!

Biggles, you physically cannot do anything half ass, my friend.

I'm still wondering whereabouts those Altec's you saved are jamming. Perhaps some Cambodian watering hole....who knows. Maybe Kim Jong Un has them, and will spin some good jams, and chill the F.O. :D
 
onwardjames said:
Give the pass a slip!

Biggles, you physically cannot do anything half ass, my friend.

I'm still wondering whereabouts those Altec's you saved are jamming. Perhaps some Cambodian watering hole....who knows. Maybe Kim Jong Un has them, and will spin some good jams, and chill the F.O. :D
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Right, I do things full assed! I wonder if Mr. Un has a listening space large enough to let those suckers rip.

Biggles
 
You are right DrB,I'm thinking leave the current patina as is,I have thought some kind of covering(possibly granite slabs) could look sharp and add mass. I'm actually shocked how small these W70D's are. I hope you use an unusual wood on those rascals,really make them pop!
 
phatster said:
You are right DrB,I'm thinking leave the current patina as is,I have thought some kind of covering(possibly granite slabs) could look sharp and add mass. I'm actually shocked how small these W70D's are. I hope you use an unusual wood on those rascals,really make them pop!
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You and I both, they're on the small side. They don't weigh much either. I don't know much about them, have no idea if adding mass would help. I do know they're for moderate listening levels, and one version of their tweeters are tender. I would love to find some 6" wooden legs for them!

I ordered a sheet of walnut, plain ol' walnut. I don't want them to pop or stand out. I want them to be a solid restoration that looks good when prodded. If I'm able to get the hang of veneering something, then I can spend the extra money and effort on some fancier veneer for another project. The veneer and a tool that helps lay it down was 93 bux delivered. Inexpensive, but still a cost nonetheless. I still need to buy some solvent based contact cement locally, there's another few bux.

Biggles
 
I know, right. I took another look, it just says walnut. I'm going with American Walnut though, it looks like walnut.

Biggles
 
These things are built like lil brick shite-house. I have used IKEA for for small metal legs but this could benefit from an American Walnut facsimile. I just ordered some 7" pedestal stands from that place.With your skills you could fashion a cool pedestal as well. Looking forward to seeing how you lay down the veneer.
 
Talk about going over the top. Wonder what you would do if you bought a used car. Are you going to add bracing to reduce the side wall resonances? I think Biggs was so focused on the rear panel design he missed the side wall resonances.
 
GD70 said:
That should look very nice. Raw, or paper backed?
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Says it's paper backed, not sure what that means. I've got a lot of ground to cover in the coming weeks. OH boy.

phatster said:
These things are built like lil brick shite-house. I have used IKEA for for small metal legs but this could benefit from an American Walnut facsimile. I just ordered some 7" pedestal stands from that place.With your skills you could fashion a cool pedestal as well. Looking forward to seeing how you lay down the veneer.
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Am going to have do something neat, can't just put them on phone books, eh?

I'd like to take a look at your version, some day. These early W70's aren't built all that solid. The grill frame has no mechanical fasteners holding it together, or onto the enclosure. The baffle is held in place with a handful of wooden triangles with 1 brass screw in each one. There isn't that much to it.

Brian said:
Talk about going over the top. Wonder what you would do if you bought a used car. Are you going to add bracing to reduce the side wall resonances? I think Biggs was so focused on the rear panel design he missed the side wall resonances.
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I don't believe it's going over the top. If one has the ability, or the chance to learn a new skill, to make something right once again, take it. Sure, I could have used stains, colored stain pencils and artistic painting with tiny brushes to hide the defects, scratches, missing veneer, rotted pock marks and sand through to substrate issues. But the way these things are built (flat sides/top/bottom with no details), it gave me the opportunity to learn a new skill.
I generally just have the scheduled maintenance done on my cars, hose them off twice a year. My last truck I had for over 3 years and popped the hood twice. I think i'm on vehicle #30, it could be more though.

I don't plan on modifying the enclosures. I'll listen to them first, if they sound good? Complete. If not, I'll go from there.

Biggles
 
You got off to a great start Big's but I am getting old and cannot wait much longer, lol. Just messing around you know.
 
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