stevie

Cut a piece of felt to fit in a U shape on the bottom up to the lower braces on each side. Spray one side of the felt, leave for 30 seconds and glue in. Then glue a second layer on the bottom panel (but not up the walls). Carry on with the rest of the cabinet until you reach the top. Do not glue any material on the back panel above the top brace, except on the side panel as shown. There mustn't be any damping material near the port. It's much more convenient to do all of this before glueing the top on. You could connect the wires to the crossover now if you like, but it's no real problem to do it later. Now you can glue the top panel on and admire your work.🙂

Next up is damping. I suggest you use needled felt for this.A square metre - available for a fiver on Ebay is the best damping material I've found. The photo shows what you'll need. The contact adhesive is available from Screwfix but you could also use Evostick from a can if you prefer, although the spray is much more convenient.

Your cab should now be looking something like this:

As promised, here are some details on fitting the cab out. We've already gone through the assembly process, but just before you glue the top panel in, don't forget to paint behind the port with some matt black paint. Then drill the holes for the crossover. It's much easier to do with the top off. You could also screw the crossover in now, but it fits through the horn opening - so you could do that later if you like.

This is a wind-up, isn't it?🙂

I remember asking a well-respected pro player about the one-finger-per-fret thing a long time ago, and he said that's what you should do. So even the experts disagree. It might have been all right for him, but I've been a lot happier since I reverted to using 1-2-4 in the lower positions. If you've got small hands, you should definitely give it a go.

Composing pm now......

It's fine, guys. I didn't want to post anything until I had something worth posting about. There has been a bit of a deadly silence over the past weeks, I admit. Unfortunately, a lot of the stuff that remains to be done depends on having a finished box, and the delays and pink torpedo-ups made by my CNC supplier has made that impossible until now. Still, I'm hoping to pull all the threads together next week. Watch this space. I do appreciate everyone's patience.

As far as progress is concerned, it's been a case of two steps forward and one step back. The good news is that I've assembled a CNC cabinet and taken photos showing how to fit it out. It's relatively straightforward and I'll list all the parts you'll need. I'm working all of today and tomorrow, but will post the photos in a few days' time. Next week, I'll also finalise the port tuning, fine tune the crossover (the PCB is already laid out) and send the final changes to Richard so that he can produce a final technical drawing. The step back (and the reason why it's taking so long) is that my CNC person has proved to be less than reliable on a number of fronts. Which is a shame, because he was within a short driving distance. Without going into too much gory detail, I'm going to have to find another CNC company. That's another job for next week. On the positive side, we do have a CNC file that (hopefully) just needs a bit of tweaking to get us back in business again. I'm sorry it's not progressing as quickly as we'd all like - but we will get there in the end. The last thing I want is for everyone to receive a cabinet kit that cannot be assembled because the CNC company was sloppy - or because the design wasn't checked properly before putting it into production.

There isn't really anything you need to buy in advance, as all the components are available at short notice. So just start shopping when you know your kit is imminent. The only exception would be if you want to get the corners I am using (take a look at the finished cab). I like them because they are discreet and made of metal. They are also a bit cheaper than other metal corners, but you'll have to order them from China via Ebay. <https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/8Pcs-90-Hard-Steel-Guitar-Amp-Amplifier-Audio-Speaker-Cabinet-Corners-Protector/263655998126?hash=item3d631f42ae:g:RLQAAOSwCyVcd1Mh>. They come with black screws, which is handy. However, there is also a huge choice of corners available from UK suppliers.

Those Proper Job clamps look quite good. You'll need four 600mm (24in) clamps. A couple of small ones are handy too. The Proper Job web page is here: <https://www.properjob.biz/shop/Rapid-Bar-Clamp-24in-M3235>. The ones I'm using were from Ebay and they're good quality. Here: <https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2-4Pcs-F-Clamps-Woodworking-Bar-Clips-Quick-Slide-Tools-50-150-50-300-80-600mm/113763919222?hash=item1a7cdba576:m:mVN-XAqagSxIuUF_70LeMZA>. There are some cheaper ones on Ebay that look all right: <https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/4-PACK-HEAVY-DUTY-600MM-X-80MM-F-CLAMPS-SOFT-GRIP-HANDLE-QUICK-SLIDE/392097460082?epid=1866877692>

The overall impedance of the system will be eight ohms.

Faital drivers are quite popular in the bass cab world. They are used by companies like Mesa, Vanderkley and Bergantino. They are considered to be at the top end of the quality spectrum, which I can confirm from experience. Whether a Faital 12" would be better than the stock GK driver depends on what driver they have chosen to fit. I've no idea, but I do know that some of their cabs use the cheapest, nastiest drivers I've ever seen. As your cabs are currently empty, you could do a lot worse than use Faital Pro, but it does need to be the right driver for your cab and your needs.

The horn is one of those types that has been designed to be rotated, which is quite a useful feature for monitors. All you need to do to fit the horn horizontally is to cut two small pieces out of the horn aperture on the baffle. When you see the cutout, it's dead obvious and fairly simple to do - even with a small handsaw. If you're planning to rotate the horn, be sure to fit t-nuts rather than wood screws.

I forgot to mention, Subsonic, that the piece of wood we cut out to make the (rectangular) hole for the horn is used for the input panel on the back of the cab. Just about every square centimetre of the sheet of plywood is used in the cabs - there's virtually no waste. So altering it would be problematic.

Now you're embarrassing me.....🙂

I know everyone is chomping at the bit to get their CNC cabs and not a lot seems to be happening, but progress is being made. The CNC company is currently altering their program to take account of what we found in the two pre-production prototypes. The prototypes are now back with the CNC company so that they can rout out the back of the cabinet for the input panel and the two Speakons. As soon as I get the cabs back next week, I'll start assembling one in earnest (with glue) so that we know that everything is A1. I'll then start fitting it out and will post the photos and instructions in the thread. Luke has now designed a brilliant logo for us, and is producing artwork so that we can get grille badges and vinyl stickers made. Another piece of great news is that Celestion is supporting the project. They have offered us such a great deal on the compression drivers that I have taken the executive decision to go for the next model up - the CDX1-1425 - which has the same great sound as the 1415 but twice the power handling for a weight penalty of 150g. They also sent me the sample I need to reconfigure the crossover, which shouldn't take long. So, a big thanks to Celestion's European sales manager Aidan McFall - a fellow musician no less - for his help on this.

Although I just looked at the Amps and Cabs for Sale and the first six were all Markbass.

It's one of the biggest brands in the industry. You'd expect plenty for sale in the classifieds.

It's all very much in an embryonic stage. So please submit your ideas and comments.

It's a fairly easy DIY jigsaw job to alter the cutout so that the horn fits both ways. You don't even need to change the screw holes. Big RedX, a wedge version isn't on the cards. Because of the crossover point and the vertical dispersion of the horn, you don't need to tilt the cab to hear it.

That's a nice driver but I'm not terribly enthusiastic about it in a bass guitar cab. Have you already bought it?

We've reached the ten cabs target. 🤩 Anyone who wants one now will have to go on the waiting list - if we do any more in the future. Thanks to those ten early adopters!

Nine's pretty close. 😀