810 Cab Restoration(graphic intense)

[insomniac2295]

I have a Peavey 810 TVX cab that I'm attempting to breathe new life into. This a pic of it when I first got it-

My intent is to have it look like a cross between these emperor cabs-

Taking the grill color of the first one and the stain color of the 2nd one. The drummer in my band is building his own kit this winter with keller maple shells and he's going to stain his kit the same color as mine when their both all done.

Now for the details-
First, I removed the ugly metal grill and framing it sat on to replace it with a cloth one. I made the frame myself and got the grill cloth from partsexpress.com. I also used Minwax stain able wood filler all over the cabinet. I almost used the entire 6 oz bottle!

The product to date-

Things to do next-
Get some fixed position castors from local hardware store because the ones that come on the cab don't give it much lift from the ground(which is why I used so much wood filler on the bottom corner). Then, save up the cash for maple veneer from partsexpress.com, a new speaker to replace a ripped one, material for skid rails, and of course stain! I'll keep updating this as I go along. I hope to have everything done by the end of January at the latest.

 

[JimmyM]

Welp, you got the easy stuff done Looks good. Should look very stylish when it's done.

 

[wonkey cat]

That is going to look great if it takes the stain well. The chip board of your cab and the solid wood of the Emperor will take the wood stain differently, do you have a back-up plan if it starts to look like it may not work?

 

[Phyrexian]

Sweet lord those Emperor cabinets are extremely beautiful. Good luck with the revamp!

 

[Sufenta]

Curious to see end results.

 

[Rickett Customs]

You know.....

Formica might actually look good on that. But if you're going maple, go for it.

 

[insomniac2295]

That is going to look great if it takes the stain well. The chip board of your cab and the solid wood of the Emperor will take the wood stain differently, do you have a back-up plan if it starts to look like it may not work?

I'm going to cover the whole thing in stainable veneer. Part of the cab is stained(probably from glue), there's tons of wood filler on it, lots of the adhesive from the tolex is left on the cab that I can't sand off, and theres some funky white stuff on it that kinda feels like casting material. Its strange but if the veneer doesn't work out, I'll probably re-tolex it.

You know.....

Formica might actually look good on that. But if you're going maple, go for it.

Thanks for the input I'm mainly using maple because I want it to match up as close to perfect as it can with my drummers kit when it's done(his shells will be maple).

 

[cadduc]

to place the veneer you need to remove all the junk left on the chip board substrate

then you need to finfish it, evenly
because anything you leave on the base material shows through when you put on the new veneer, or tolex, or finish

you can buy the veneer in sheets from a local hard wood supplier
they are in the telephone book

but you might consider making a cab from virgin materials rather than try to refin this thing
when you are done it is still a chipboard cab, ok if it sits still, but it will break on the road

 

[cadduc]

not finfish
but
prefinish

 

[Curtybob]

The veneer idea will probably work well, but the corners could be a pain for you. Are you gonna try and wrap around the corners with some heat or something?

And those cabs aren't chip board, are they? I thought they were plywood (very heavy plywood, I might add).

 

[insomniac2295]

yes. it IS plywood. not chipboard.

come on guys, it's Peavey for christ's sake. you think they got their indestructible rep for using chipboard?

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

yes. it IS plywood. not chipboard.

come on guys, it's Peavey for christ's sake. you think they got their indestructible rep for using chipboard?

uh... it sure looksl like chipboard to me... Which makes me rather ask the obvious question... Why? Seems to me that it would be cheaper to buy some good ply (3/4 marine) with a decent veneer on it - Birch, perhaps.

 

[Curtybob]

uh... it sure looksl like chipboard to me... Which makes me rather ask the obvious question... Why? Seems to me that it would be cheaper to buy some good ply (3/4 marine) with a decent veneer on it - Birch, perhaps.

I believe I see why you'd think that, but the question is moot. It IS plywood, so says the guy that has it in his possession.

 

[insomniac2295]

uh... it sure looksl like chipboard to me... Which makes me rather ask the obvious question... Why? Seems to me that it would be cheaper to buy some good ply (3/4 marine) with a decent veneer on it - Birch, perhaps.

if you look at the edges of it in this pic, you'll notice the plies

i'd rather spend roughly a hundred dollars in supplys to refinish it then a couple hundred dollars on plywood, have to reverse engineer my cab, and rebuild it. seems to me my option is cheaper and faster. plus i keep the nostalgic value of the original cab.
win win win

 

[insomniac2295]

I took a trip to Walmart and found a drill attachment for removing paint and rust that looks like this.
Link Removed
So, I got it and it worked wonders on my cab! I actually wore through a whole one and had to get another. I almost have all of the gunk off of it and soon it will be ready to be stained! That means I wont have to spend money on expensive veneer! Since I'll have some left over funding, I think I'll splurge on some more expensive grill cloth that will look nicer. I wish I had my camera right now!

EDIT:I also put some 3" castors on the back because the stock ones don't give the cabinet enough lift off of the ground. That's why the edge on the back was all eaten away and why I had to reform it.

 

[insomniac2295]

Sorry for the crappy quality. I promise to have really nice pics up when it's all finished.


I added a cross brace to the grill.

Back(still pretty rough)

Castor detail

 

[tom once dead]

thats going to look nice, will you put a Peavey logo on the front?

 

[insomniac2295]

thats going to look nice, will you put a Peavey logo on the front?

Thanks! I sure hope it does.

Probably not. It didn't even have the logo when I bought it. It looked exactly the way it did in the first 2 pics I posted of it.
I was never really fond of the Peavey logo anyways. It just seems kinda 80's looking to me.

On a side note, I was thinking of making 2 small square grills to place inside the 2 sections of the grill frame I made for it and staining the grill frame as well. What do you guys think?

 

[JazzbassArt]

I like! Plus, your idea of two smaller grille frames is cool. Here are some wheels that look like they are higher and might bolt into the existing hole with some refitting. Check out the matching feet too. Looks great.
http://www.bltsound.com/index.php/products/ca2

 

[insomniac2295]

I like! Plus, your idea of two smaller grille frames is cool. Here are some wheels that look like they are higher and might bolt into the existing hole with some refitting. Check out the matching feet too. Looks great.
http://www.bltsound.com/index.php/products/ca2

Thanks! I think I just might drop $30 to see if they would fit or not. If they don't I could always adjust things to fit if they aren't far off or return them if I'd be doing to much. The main thing I'm worried about is changing the internal dimensions of my cabinet.