C38 Restoration with Pics

[ejfud]

Thought I would share some pics of a restoration job my brother is working on. JBL C38 cabs with D130 and 075 drivers.

The cabinets were in bad shape as the pics show. All drivers are excellent. The cabinets are missing one of the aluminum legs. We need one if you have a single doing nothing.

He is re-veneering the cabinets. I saw one in progress today and they look stunning. I'll add pictures as he passes them on to me.

Gary

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/IMG_0221_2.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/IMG_0222.jpg

[ejfud]

Some new walnut veneer for one of the cabs.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/IMG_0225.jpg

[John Y.]

Thought I would share some pics of a restoration job my brother is working on. JBL C38 cabs with D130 and 075 drivers.

The cabinets were in bad shape as the pics show. All drivers are excellent. The cabinets are missing one of the aluminum legs. We need one if you have a single doing nothing.

He is re-veneering the cabinets. I saw one in progress today and they look stunning. I'll add pictures as he passes them on to me.

Gary




Gary,

Nice project. I would like to know if the D130 is front mounted as the cork? gasket seems to suggest. Is there no removable back on the enclosure? My C37 built from Lansing plans in 1955 had a removable back. The D130 was rear mounted. The grille was on a separate assembly installed and screwed from the rear into the front two inch frame pieces. Your unit looks like an entirely different construction.

I am currently restoring my C37 but enlarging the rear back to accomodate a 2440 and horn inside the enclosure. I, too, will need some re-veneering to be done, although minimal since I plan a piano black painted finish.

John Y.

[ejfud]

The woofer is indeed mounted on the front with four monster cast clips. The grill slides in from the bottom through a slot and the feet hold it in place.

Gary

[Steve Schell]

Looks like your brother is doing some fine work ejfud, and it does my heart good to see the cabinets being valued and restored.

In dinner conversation the other night, a friend (lifetime speaker industry guy) commented that original cabinets will be the rare commodity of the future. Many thousands of systems have been parted out, the components sold and the boxes trashed. There are now many more speakers in circulation than there are original enclosures for them. In the past only the rare and pristine cabinets have been saved, but my friend predicts that this is sure to change in the coming years.

[ejfud]

Yep, cabinets trashed every day. I just can't do it myself, that's why I talked him into this route. He could not be happier at this point.

Gary

[ejfud]

Anybody have any thoughts on what the grill cloth would have been for these.

Any ideas would help.

Thanks, Gary

[Baron030]

Hi ejfud

One possibility would be to go with a black grill cloth, like in the color photo below. Or correct me if I’m wrong. But, I think a blond colored grill cloth was also a standard option. But, the exclamation signature series badges are going to be the real hard find, if you don't already have them.

Baron030

[ejfud]

Saw the first one re-veneered and they look stunning.

http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/IMG_0245.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/IMG_0242.jpg

Gary

[doucanoe]

Hey Gary, I finally had time and remembered to check out the pics and progress. Looks outstanding! Those are going to send the needle well into the "Keeper" range when finished. How is the progress with the legs?

RC

[ejfud]

Only missing one leg at this point.

I don't know what he is going to do. Someone here thought they could spin one out for him, so that is an option, or wait till you find the loner on the Bay.

I'm sure it will more of an issue as they get closer to being done.

Gary

[ejfud]

Here we go. Finished and looking and sounding very nice. Still missing leg, but have figured a fix til one pops up.
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/grloff.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/oilbk.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/oilrt.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/oilfrt.jpg
http://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c254/ejfud/oiltop.jpg

[Zilch]

Well, now. Didn't THOSE come out gorgeous!!! :thmbsup:

[Baron030]

Wow, Way to Go. Those turned out looking really sweet!

:applaud: :applaud:

Baron 030
:cheers: :cheers:

[sourceoneaudio]

Very nice resto!!!!!!! A+++++++++++++ I did see some legs on the bay a week ago or so. Keep looking, I'm sure they will pop up again.


J/S-S1A :applaud::applaud::applaud::applaud:

[John Y.]

Anybody have any thoughts on what the grill cloth would have been for these.

Any ideas would help.

Thanks, Gary

Gary,
Your enclosures are absolutely grand!! I like the grill cloth that you used on this project. Would you give the details on where you got that material? Thanks.
John Y.

[Harvey Gerst]

Anybody have any thoughts on what the grill cloth would have been for these.

Any ideas would help.

Thanks, Gary
We used a brown plasticky grille cloth with a reddish thread running thru it. There were a few shipped with the goat hair grille cloth material we used on the C39. That goat hair material ran about $9 a yard back then, as I recall.

[Mr. Widget]

Thanks for that tidbit of info Harvey... Goat Hair huh??? Pretty wild.

Gary,

Excellent work! They do look awesome... good luck on that last leg. You really got that vintage walnut color... what type and color of stain was used?


Widget

[capo72]

Very nice! i'm going to be tackling an identical project in the next couple of months. Thanx for the inspiration. BTW what was used to finish the new veneer?


Jeremy

[ejfud]

Thanks guys, but this was my brothers doing this time. He does wonderful work. He has no comptuer but wanted to share with the board his JBL love.

The grill cloth was actually what was hiding behind the wicker grill someone had attached. It was ugly, but a little K2R(?) foam cleaner made them look as good as new.

I think the stain color that was used on the bare veneer was a golden oak stain, folowed by coats of med walnut Watco oil, but I'll double check with him on this.

They look even better in person.

I see to many of these great old cabinets getting trashed for eBay sales. It's nice to see a refurb once in a while.:applaud:

Gary

[Harvey Gerst]

Thanks for that tidbit of info Harvey... Goat Hair huh??? Pretty wild.

Widget
Yup, and at those prices, you didn't wanna make any mistakes when cutting the stuff.

Also, the more I think about it, the standard JBL grille material was kind of a reddish plastic (like a dark maroon color), with a gold strand running thru it.

[Audiobeer]

Very very nice! Beautiful job! We''ll keep an eye open for the missing leg!

[ejfud]

The stain combo was 2 coats of Varathane light walnut #236 followed natural several coats of Watco natural oil.

This combo really makes the black walnut of today look like the walnut of old.

Gary

[UreiCollector]

VERY nice work! There is a lot of talent on this site! :applaud: :applaud:

[Mr. Widget]

The stain combo was 2 coats of Varathane light walnut #236 followed natural several coats of Watco natural oil.

This combo really makes the black walnut of today look like the walnut of old.

GaryThanks Gary, I'll give that a shot on a vintage project down the road.


Widget

[Baron030]

For the benefit of anyone interested in duplicating the look of ejfud’s original white goat hair grill cloth.

Here is a source for a similar looking product:
http://www.wendellfabrics.com/mellotone/decorator.html (http://www.wendellfabrics.com/mellotone/decorator.html)

I am sure that Wendell’s fabrics are not made of goat hair. But, the #DA5002 looks very close to ejfud’s photos. They sell it in a 54” width and there is a 2 yard minimum order. And I would strongly recommend contacting them for some free samples, before possibly ordering anything. My only experience with this company was ordering 4 sq. yards of grill cloth for one of my own DIY projects. And I was very pleased with their product.

Baron030 :)

[Harvey Gerst]

For the benefit of anyone interested in duplicating the look of ejfud’s original white goat hair grill cloth.

Here is a source for a similar looking product:
http://www.wendellfabrics.com/mellotone/decorator.html (http://www.wendellfabrics.com/mellotone/decorator.html)

I am sure that Wendell’s fabrics are not made of goat hair. But, the #DA5002 looks very close to ejfud’s photos. They sell it in a 54” width and there is a 2 yard minimum order. And I would strongly recommend contacting them for some free samples, before possibly ordering anything. My only experience with this company was ordering 4 sq. yards of grill cloth for one of my own DIY projects. And I was very pleased with their product.

Baron030 :)
Nope that ain't it, but the regular grille cloth we used on everything else is there:

http://www.wendellfabrics.com/grille2.html

In the bottom left corner, is sample: AF5115-21, and that was JBL's standard grill cloth.

[Baron030]

Thanks, Harvey for setting me straight, on genuine JBL grill cloth.
It's really great to find a reliable source for all this vintage stuff.
I will always be looking forward to reading your posts.

Baron030 :)

[JohnK]

The goat hair cloth is very special looking. It has an artistic uneven rough weave & whiskers of hair worked in here and there. It is clearly a product of the period and probably impossible to find anymore. It is the best looking speaker cloth I have ever seen.


Regarding Harvey's comments about the use of this cloth, very
unfortunately, the C39 Harlan speaker that I own doesn't have this cloth, it has an ivory white plastic cloth with paint drizzled on it like a Pollock painting or something. It's original, I've seen pictures of others like it in the literature. The goat cloth would look much better I think.

[BMWCCA]

Did your brother re-veneer the C38s right over the old veneer? And what was that filler he used before applying the veneer? Thanks. Just a thought...

And also, if Harvey is still looking and might know: I have two C37 cabinets and two C35's. These are all from the monaural period and hence are not matched pairs except by accident. One of the C35's is made of plywood and the other is MDF/particle board. The C37 is particle board. I have no reason to believe either is home-built but I've been wrong before! I got to thinking about it because in researching Heather's old 4320 cabinets I noted that JBL literature from that time waxed poetic on the virtues of plywood over MDF. Any idea if they were made both ways at different times, or (what a memory!) when they quit making plywood home cabinets and went to compressed fiber?

Oddly enough, one C37 was bought used in 1971 and already had black grille cloth on the slide-out panel. I had to change the other over from the beige cloth to match, but I'm pretty sure the one that came black was originally built that way. I don't believe I saved the old cloth.

Thanks.

[ejfud]

There is no reason and probably impossible to get all the old veneer off cabinets of this build quality. If it is still glued done firmly it can be glued over. Wood to wood bond is always good. Just need to give it a good sand to get the oils off and you are set.

The fill is Wonderfill by Rockler Woodworking. It is a really good fill for this type work as it is wood dust in some liquid. So again wood to wood gluing is accomplished. I have used it a many projects with great results.

Gary

[Steve Schell]

Ejfud, your brother's work looks magnificent.

I recently made repairs to the case of an old ebony finish Steinway grand piano in a commercial setting that had suffered quite a bit of case damage due to being run into doorways and such. I built up the damaged lid edges and case corners and sanded them to dimension prior to painting. I used Devcon #10110 steel epoxy putty for this. It adheres to roughened wood extremely well, much better then Bondo. It cures up hard, and will likely stand up to future abuse better than any wood dough I have tried. I'm sure it would also be an ideal material to build back flattened corners and such on old hammered speaker cabinets prior to reveneering.

[BMWCCA]

Steve and ejfud, thanks to both of you for your suggestions. Piano black? Hmm....

[refud]

Morning JBLer's, I have found a leg and badges for these C38's now I'm looking to replace the Energizer sticker than was on the back ( the original was only about half there). I've found a couple of photos of this sticker so I was able to recreate the art but I don't know the exact size. My guesstimate is that it is close to 2.5" x 5.75". Does anyone have one of these on the back of a speaker than they can measure for me? I need the overall dimensions plus the dimensions of the blue and black squares. Thanks in advance.

[spkrman57]

Those look museum quality!

Regards, Ron

[refud]

Thanks Ron! These are my first pair of vintage JBL's and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. Best $6.00 I've ever spent!

[Sam Cogley]

But, the exclamation signature series badges are going to be the real hard find, if you don't already have them.

Those are on eBay all the time.

[JBL 4645]

Nice restoration job on restoring them to pristine condition.:applaud:

[davis]

Thanks Ron! These are my first pair of vintage JBL's and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. Best $6.00 I've ever spent!

Where did you get the cloth to restore the speakers?