Thinking of cutting down one of my amps to a head. Any DIY folks with advice?

Bob Zaod

Bob Zaod

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So I really want to cut my Spider Valve 112 MKII combo down into head form but I really only have a Battery powered Sawzall. I've gone as far as putting up ads looking for a handyman type to do it for me but no responses. So...

I was thinking if I do try this should I use a blade with fine teeth? I have used my Sawzall on several home projects and have gotten good at cutting straight with it but I'm not sure what type of blade to use? The one it comes with is very jagged looking. I think the combo is made of plywood if that helps.

I just dont want to destroy it.
 
I cut my Peavey Vypyr down with a battery powered Porter Cable circular saw with whatever-the-hell blade was in there at the time, and it turned out way better than expected. Great actually.
 
Bob Zaod said:
So I really want to cut my Spider Valve 112 MKII combo down into head form but I really only have a Battery powered Sawzall. I've gone as far as putting up ads looking for a handyman type to do it for me but no responses. So...

I was thinking if I do try this should I use a blade with fine teeth? I have used my Sawzall on several home projects and have gotten good at cutting straight with it but I'm not sure what type of blade to use? The one it comes with is very jagged looking. I think the combo is made of plywood if that helps.

I just dont want to destroy it.
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Sawzall reciprocating saws excel at pruning tree branches and demolition work and as such they lack the precision to make clean straight cuts, even for rough carpentry work.

You would be better served by using a hand-held jigsaw or circular saw as suggested by @Jambi.

Regardless, remember to measure twice and cut once.

Cheers
 
A table saw would be your best, quickest, and easiest chance at cutting straight, assuming you have one and can do this type of cut safely.
If you do cut it down, remember that you'll need a bottom piece to fill back in the void.
Personally, I'd build one from scratch or you could contact a guitar cab company like Mojotone to build you one.
 
Bob Zaod said:
I just dont want to destroy it.
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In a way you are destroying it.:grin It will no longer serve its purpose as designed.
The grill cloth has to be dealt with too not to mention the tolex edges at the bottom around the cut. It will be tough to make it look proper.
If you build a new cab, at least the old combo can be used as an extension cab?
 
gearJunkie said:
Sawzall reciprocating saws excel at pruning tree branches and demolition work and as such they lack the precision to make clean straight cuts, even for rough carpentry work.

You would be better served by using a hand-held jigsaw or circular saw as suggested by @Jambi.

Regardless, remember to measure twice and cut once.

Cheers
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I have practiced cutting with my circular saw so many times and can never cut straight with it.
 
As a DIY hack myself, I'll have to agree that a reciprocating saw isn't very accurate. Maybe use it for a rough cut and come back with a cleaner cut with a hand saw. I'd just take my time with a hand saw, personally.
 
Don't cut the chassis, build yourself a new headshell and turn the combo into a cab by closing any holes left by the amp.

This is what I did with the Bogner Goldfinger 45 SL I had. Worked out great.



A good tool for the headshell joints is a Wolfcraft Dowelmaster. This makes it extremely easy to make sturdy, accurate dowel joints that will hold well. I'm not that great a woodworker and was still able to get a pretty solid result.

If you want tolex on it, that's probably the hardest thing to do right. Mojotone in the US sells a good tolex glue afaik, in Europe Tube Town and Uraltone offer good ones. You can find videos on YT how to cut the corners cleanly or you can skimp on that by using corner protectors instead.
 
I have a fair amount of finish carpentry experience casing windows, crown molding, baseboards, etc. when we remodeled our house and I would recommend you rent a table saw or Miter Saw. They have guides on them and if you set it up proper, you really cant screw it up. I will say you can cut wood with anything, but the better the cut, the less sanding and finishing you will have to do. I hate sanding and routing edges, so I make cuts as nice as possible.

I would build a new box and put all the guts in it. It will look and hold up a lot better especially if the old one is plywood. Once you start cutting that it can split and go to hell.

What are the measurements you need? Lowes and HD will cut wood down to whatever size you need. As long as you dont need anything over 16" depth, you can get get pretty good shelf wood already planed and sanded and have the guys at Lowes or HD cut it down to your specific size.

Get dimensions and come back and I can help with the wood selection if you want it.
 
Bob Zaod said:
I have practiced cutting with my circular saw so many times and can never cut straight with it.
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Clamp on a steel straight edge to the combo and use the saw guard in contact with the straight edge for a perfect straight cut. Use a finishing blade to minimize tear out and final finishing effort . Practice a few similar cuts on scrap wood until you are comfortable.

Good luck with whatever path you choose.

:beer
 
Byrdman said:
What are the measurements you need? Lowes and HD will cut wood down to whatever size you need. As long as you dont need anything over 16" depth, you can get get pretty good shelf wood already planed and sanded and have the guys at Lowes or HD cut it down to your specific size.
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This is a great idea. I wanted to do this with my local hardware store but of course exactly on that day their stuff was out of commission so I decided to cut things myself. It did mean a lot more planing, sanding etc than if I had them do.

As for wood choices. Use something other than birch plywood traditionally used. It's heavy.

I used paulownia which is super light, very easy to shape but not cheap and kinda ugly as bare wood. But it reduced the head weight nearly 5 kg vs Bogner's own plywood headshell. Pine would be another good choice that might shave off a bit of weight.

You don't need your head to have "nuke it from orbit" level durability.
 
If you're dead-set on the idea of cutting it down (and if we know Bob at all, we know he is), then a few things:

(1). Figure out what material you are getting ready to hack through. If it's MDF and you're dead-set on using your demo-saw, use the finest blade you can get, probably one marketed for cutting metal. If its "MDF" meaning coarser material closer to chip-board, have fun chipping out chunks of material to "cut" through it.
(2). I'd say regardless of material, use a handsaw rather than a saws all...but if you can't cut a straight line with a circular saw...then perhaps this isn't the best course of action. Unless you want to change (very hot) blades every minute or two, you're going to be going slow enough with the saws all that its not likely to be a whole lot faster than just using a hand saw.
(3). Whatever you do, probably try to score/cut through the tolex with razor blades before cutting the wood.
 
JiveTurkey said:
Building a box is actually super simple. Even for the handiwork challenged (aka ask me how I know).
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Seriously considering gluing 4 slats together and drilling holes to mount the head. Just want to eliminate how dumb a combo looks on a speaker cab.
 
Jambi said:
Yeah definitely use a guide against the shoe when using a circular saw. When I read Sawzall, I heard Skilsaw. Reciprocating saws are for quick, dirty, and dildos.
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Sean Connery GIF by James Bond 007


Dubstep Shaking GIF
 
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