Repairing speaker Vermeer and Wood receiver cabinets

[guitar_freak]

I have lots of audio equipment and large Cerwin Vega speakers dating back to the 70s. All of this equipment has damage in some way, commonly scratched up in some way with rounded corners and edges.

could I briefly take an orbital sander to the speaker veneer to get scratches out? What techniques could I use to repair rounded corners?

 

[swechsler]

Vermeer?




You can use a sander on veneer, but use a fine grit, some speaker veneer is pretty thin and you might end up sanding right through it. In general, use care until you get a good idea of what you're working with.

Regarding the rounded corners, it depends on the types of damage. Some pics here might help.

 

[hbucker]

I would recommend very fine grit sand paper and a sanding block on the veneer. You don't know how thick the veneer is until it's too late and you've sanded through. Electric sanders can burn through veneer very easily. Always assume it's very thin. And always sand with the grain. Re-staining would be necessary after sanding. But you could probably get away with just touching it up, especially if you match the stain well.

Rounded corners: I think you're left either with not much you can do with those. Or doing something that is just cosmetic, which will probably fail the second something bumps the corner (inevitable). But yes, photos would be helpful.

 

[peterp1]

I have lots of audio equipment and large Cerwin Vega speakers dating back to the 70s. All of this equipment has damage in some way, commonly scratched up in some way with rounded corners and edges.

could I briefly take an orbital sander to the speaker veneer to get scratches out? What techniques could I use to repair rounded corners?

Honestly, I think pics are needed to provide any useful feedback and it would be on a case-by-case basis. A lot depends on what veneer was used and what the condition is. Rounding corners is usually not possible because the veneer is too thin (so you hit the MDF underneath). That said, I have used a veneer that is thick enough that I could do some slight rounding on the corner -- but that is probably not the case with factory veneer.

Scratches can sometimes be blended by using a matching stain (exposed wood in scratches will absorb stain while the surrounding area will not). Sanding may also be possible, depends on the veneer. Applying new veneer is often not too difficult, but that depends on the physical shape of the speaker box.

 

[guitar_freak]

This is the condition I commonly find speakers from the 80s.

 

[Drugolf]

guitar-freak, there are literally hundreds of thread already on the subject here on AK. I used many when I first got into it to learn and still look for tricks of the trade. Just search around. To many variables to start over.

 

[Rey1]

Vermeer?

Yes, one of my favorite artists!