How to Build a Guitar Speaker Cabinet 1x12

bill0287 Member

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Does anyone have any construction plans for building 1x12 cabinet?

wakjob Well-Known Member

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There are no hard set rules or plans for any size guitar cab.
The first 4x12 was more or less a mistake.
Jim just wanted is new head to aesthetically fit on one cab instead of two.
I think oversized 1x12 or thiele's are the way to go.
Standard 1x12 dimensions are narrow/beamy sounding.
Gutch220 Well-Known Member

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do you want braces with screws, or box joints/glue?

bill0287 Member

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Probably braces with screws (and some glue). Box joints or dovetails or other specialized joints would probably be too much for me at this point. I don't have those types of tools lying around.
http://www.realoldiesradio.com/docs/EV/ElectroVoice_TL806.pdf
The TL806 is one of the best 1X12 designs ever made.
It works well with 12" guitar speakers or an EVM speaker.
It has a removable port cover to extend the low frequencies.

Last edited: Jan 30, 2019
Adieu Well-Known Member

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Get external dimensions from a website of a manufacturer or retailer, then use lumber dimensions to figure out the rest (most standard thickness is either 3/4" or 19mm, thinner stuff can be 5/8" or 9/16", really thin is 1/2")
Use straight pieces of lumber to measure with

Screw and glue braced butt joints are easiest:
1. Take one side, clamp a piece 0.75" wide along the edge, pencil a line... repeat all around all edges

2. Get a piece of 0.75x0.75" (or 1.5x0.75" if you're lazy and using the easiest found boards), cut it down to run the length within the 0.75" 'border'"you penciled off, smear glue, clamp down, drill a pilot and screw down. Clamps can be ditched if you put in enough screws. Use torx/stardrive screws 1 1/4" length.

3. Repeat along all edges of 2 sides, "missing edges" of other sides

4. Now it's easily joined together, same process, sides can be cross-clamped through their shared brace

Alder is a good cheap-ish wood for bracing because it screws and glues easy, doesn't weigh much and comes in precut so-called 2x1 (actual dimensions: 1.5" x 0.75") boards at Home Depot and Lowes and the like

Cutting straight bracing from ply requires serious equipment most hobbyists don't have... use alder. Poplar splinters and cracks easy, maple weighs a ton and is hard to screw.
JohnH Well-Known Member

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Go to the auto part store and but an empty 12inch sub speaker cab... done ~60-100€/$/£
J
Edit. This one is 60€ in Sweden. Add speaker replace Jack plate

Last edited: Jan 31, 2019
BowerR64 Well-Known Member

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The only rule when making a guitar cabinet is to make it really really small so the speaker just barely fits.
This way you get a nice 8" tone from a 12" speaker that would sound like a much larger cabinet if it was only built properly err uh larger
pedecamp Well-Known Member

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6 pieces of wood, screws and glue. That's the plan! Pick a speaker cab you like and build to those dimensions. That's all there is to it!
KraftyBob Well-Known Member Gold Supporting Member

Check with Geeze (member here). He builds some really beautiful cabs so he may have some ideas for you.