4355's on Audiogon (located in Greece)

[JBL Dog]

I don't know about the rest of you, but this is the first set of 4355's I've ever seen for sale:

http://cls.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/cls.pl?spkrmoni&1175085094

[subwoof]

Those were shipped by Rick to elliot (http://audioheritage.org/vbulletin/member.php?u=5660)

I sent him a handful of crossovers.

sub

[Woody Banks]

Well I am confused! How can a new cabinet suddenly become a vintage cabinet. Did the magic occur in the container ride from the USA to Greece? We all know that Rick does an outstanding job with his incredible attention to detail and his cabinets are as good or better than original, but new is new and vintage is vintage. SALE PENDING!

[Mr. Widget]

Well I am confused! How can a new cabinet suddenly become a vintage cabinet.I think you are confused... Rick makes excellent copies of some of the large JBL Monitors, but he has also reconditioned many pairs of factory built units as well... I believe this pair is one of those.


Widget

[saeman]

Hi Mr. Widget: I just happened across your post. Thanks for your compliments as always. Thought I'd share with you and other forum members a true restoration challenge - the 4355's from hell as I've now come to call them.

About a year ago, in conversation with one of my JBL parts sources, I was offered three pairs of 4355's - cabinets only. Imagine my excitement and they were dirt cheap. They had been totally gutted of all components and there were no grilles. Even so I still wanted them - after all any good JBL guy would at least want to have a look. They were supposedly taken out of a big studio setting years back. It was a full day round trip drive so I played hookie from work and took off. When I got there I was devastated at the sight. Stacked in a warehouse full of other junk I found the cabinets - covered in dust, lots of dust, and looking like something other than JBL cabinets. We pulled one down and over to the roll up door where there was some light.

They were all painted dark brown, almost black and mice had been living in them for who knows how long. All six cabinets were the same. Besides the paint they were in great condition and none had been smashed or abused. I now figure that I've scored big and agree to his deal. I paid for all of them but only took two with me in the van. I headed for home with arrangements made to pick up the other cabinets at my convenience - still feeling real good about the deal. Too good to be true ????

I get home at 7pm and immediately unload them into the garage. Using damp rags I spend some time cleaning everything I could reach. I turned the shop vac loose on the inside and sucked out the remainer of the insulation and a ton of dirt. Since I'm still excited and willing to continue I pull out a gallon can of paint stripper and start to coat the top of one cabinet. After waiting for it to bite and soften the paint I started scraping just to find that the paint didn't budge one bit. Long story short - it's some type of epoxy and it's on thick. End of day. The next day I return to the task with a new can of stripper - super wamadyne aircraft finish remover - guarenteed to remove anything. Even using this stuff it took 4 applications and a lot of scrapping to see the first signs of veneer.

I'm starting to feel good and the surface is starting to clean up. I let the cabinet sit and quit for the day. Next morning I decide to go at it again and I find that the veneer, now dry, has lifted up and bubbled over a large part of the surface. This stripper and maybe the rinse water used has obviously penetrated the veneer and had some effect on the glue bond between veneer and cabinet. I talked to a salesman at the paint store and he said that additives like ethers or other solvents could do that. Now I'm screwed. I figured I would just strip off all the old veneer and start fresh - big mistake! The veneer that isn't bubbled ain't coming off - not with solvents, not with heat. Next step was a 3" wide brand new wood chiesel with a razor sharp edge. That worked for a while until substrate (particle board) started to come up along with the veneer. Now the cabinet top is starting to look like a gravel road and there's no way to put new veneer over that surface. In total disgust I abandoned the whole effort. Now I figure I own 6 big boxes that are useless as restoration projects. Too good to be true!!!

A couple of weeks later in conversation with a customer at my carwash I mentioned to him the problems I had. He knows I'm a wood worker and always asks how my projects are going. I have known him for a while and also knew that he was in the die grinding business. He starts asking me questions about the cabinet, size, weight, etc. After I gave him all of the info he said "why don't you just grind the surface flat and new - take off all the old finish and any irregularaties - make em' look like new again". I reminded him again about their size and he replied "hell, I grind press dies a lot bigger than that". He offered his help and I was all ears.

The following Wednesday evening at 11pm I leave my shop with both cabinets in my wife's van and drive some 40 minutes to his shop. The plan is to get there after his 2nd shift is finished for the day. I back into the building and he directs me up close to a big cabinet looking thing. Turns out this big thing is a computer driven horizontal die grinder. You could easily put a small car inside this cabinet. We off load the first cabinet and set it down on a roller cart about waist high. He then pulls out the biggest vernier I have ever seen and proceeds to measure the cabinet height, width and depth at all corners. All measurements were within a few thousandths in h, w, d. First thing he does is to tape some real thin shims to a couple of the bottom corners and then we lifted the cabinet on to the grinding table and he motored it inside of the cabinet. He slid clamps up against the sides and closed the door.

He fires up this machine and it sounds like a hugh vacuum cleaner. Turns out that the cabinet is fed with outside air and is vacuum exhausted to a bin outside of the building. He says all the ambient noise if from the exhaust system and not the grinding process. Thru a viewing window he starts to make an initial pass across the cabinet top. I had visions of the cabinet coming out round and all chewed up but I just kept quiet. After his initial set up pass he pushed a button and just stood back. He said "this is just wood and things will go fast - if I was working steel it would take a whole lot longer". After just a few minutes the maching stopped and he opened the door and lowered the table. We slid the cabinet out and I was amazed - perfect flat surface with no paint and no veneer. We flipped the cabined over and he took a cut off the bottom. The remaining sides and the other cabinet were similar. We also took a cut off the back of each cabinet to clean it bare. In about 3 hours both cabinets were back in the van and we sat drinking coffee.

From that point finishing the cabinets was like any of my other projects. The whole deal with him cost me a few carwashes/oil changes - his choice. He said that he would also do the other cabinets at some yet to be determined price. I now need to decide if all this hasle is worth it. I have built several pairs of 4350/4355 new cabinets and there is some advantage to working with all new materials and knowing that all joints are sound and solid.

If you see two pairs of empty cabinets offered in the future you'll know the story and what you're up against to restore them. Restoration Project From Hell.

[Woody Banks]

Rick
Thanks for clearing that up. That was more of a resurrection than a restoration. The project photos looked so great that I mistakenly thought they were reproductions. Keep up the good work.
Woody

[saeman]

Hi Woody: If you're talking about the pics I posted in my 4355 thread - those pics are of my home brew cabinets that I completed several months ago or of the ones I'm building now. I kinda stopped taking pics of everything. At one time I figured I needed to take pics of every project, every step along the way and keep a big history file on everything . I did that for a while but never had the time to sort and edit all the pics. Then I'd forget which were which as naked cabinets without veneer all look the same.

Don't let me discourage you though as I would really like to see pics of your project when you officially launch the effort.

Rick

[OLDGEN]

I am thinking buying 4350, original, or a replica.
somebody can tell me how much is the different in % or in USD?
thx