Old Cab Rehab! Before/After photos

[chris1327]

So. In the spirit of giving a new life to something old, I did some rehab on an old cab. Some before and after photos are attached for your consideration and amusement It's my first endeavor so there was lots of learning/character building experiences along the way...

THE CAB: a beat up Genz Benz 6x10 that I got on CL for $100. It was in rough shape cosmetically, but sounds great and functions perfectly.

THE REHAB: a marble veneer, Wet Look speaker paint, black paint for the body, copper spray paint for the handles and the ports, copper screws for the speakers and grill, new metal corners, and to top it all off: a shiny new metal knob for the tweeter control on the back. All in all it was maybe $100 worth of materials (thank you Parts Express!) and quite a bit of painting, sanding, stripping glue, and watching the vision take shape!

While it's far from perfect, I had quite a bit of fun putting this together and I'm curious if anyone else has undergone any similar endeavors??? Anyways here's the images:

Here's the BEFORE pictures:

 

[Downunderwonder]

Handsome!

I hope your paint job on the speakers didn't kill the tone. That's a bit of a hell no no.

 

[Downunderwonder]

The jack plate looks like new?

 

[chris1327]

Handsome!

I hope your paint job on the speakers didn't kill the tone. That's a bit of a hell no no.

Thank you! The speaker paint was the thing I probably spent the largest chunk of time researching. I’ve been making paintings professionally for about 12 years so I have experience with almost every different paint/solvent/substrate/etc and the resulting effects. I used Wet Look, which is formulated for paper cones and paper surrounds. I think the speakers actually sound better (certainly more low end definition) after being painted, but the Wet Look dries fast so I made sure to have a system down before I started. There is a big community of people who repaint speakers in vintage boom boxes who have technical experience with different speakers and different paint combinations, so lots of my time was spent there, as well as the reviews on parts express website

 

[chris1327]

The jack plate looks like new?

The jack plate is original, but the knob is new!

 

[Pilgrim]

Wow, very nice work!

Big G-B fan here, but wouldn't care to try and move that one around.

 

[chris1327]

Wow, very nice work!

Big G-B fan here, but wouldn't care to try and move that one around.

Thank you so much!! And yeah it’s a beast...it probably weighs as much as I do! Luckily the casters make it a little easier to move..

 

[Funk With Me]

The marble veneer is sexy.

 

[chris1327]

The marble veneer is sexy.

yes! marble > rat fur

 

[Downunderwonder]

The jack plate is original, but the knob is new!

What happened to the rusty patches?

 

[6thplanet]

Definitely distinctive! Which copper paint did you use?

 

[nilorius]

No speakon connector.

 

[theduke1]

Very nice
Duke

 

[JRA]

ha! i think that looks great! nice job --- bringing an old 'eyesore' around to that kind of classiness took some hard work and some good lovin' --- congrats on your new cabinet!

 

[Bleecker]

It looks great! Nice job with it...of course its heavy, its made of marble!

Cheers!

 

[chris1327]

What happened to the rusty patches?

I used rustoleum rust reformer... it’s a liquid primer that goes on before the paint, the chemical bonds and converts the rust patches into a
paintable surface. It was the first time I’d ever used it, but it’s a really clever solution!

 

[chris1327]

Definitely distinctive! Which copper paint did you use?

I used a rustoleum metallic copper spray paint from home depot... simple, cheap, and impossible to mess up! Underneath as a primer I used the rustoleum rust reformer that’s brushed on.

 

[chris1327]

Very nice
Duke

Thank you so much!!

 

[chris1327]

No speakon connector.

Old cab = Old connectors!

 

[chris1327]

It looks great! Nice job with it...of course its heavy, its made of marble!

Cheers!

Haha maybe I should’ve used a material with less visual weight! I’m open to suggestions for the next one... maybe I’ll cover it in feathers?