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Was just working on the cab and realized I never got around to posting any of the work I've done on it so far although, to be fair, there was a long, long time where it was just sanding and sanding and sanding and some more sanding... But most of that is done now! Or at least, I'm at the point where I'm one to doing more interesting things as well as just sanding my life away.

I forgot to take any pics when I first picked it up and before I began tearing it down. It initially came with a Home Depot Special mesh grill in place of grill cloth and what I had taken to be a Hiwatt badge was really just a sticker under the mesh grill. Many screws had been used in a vain attempt to keep the grill from rattling so those all came out and the grill is gone! Cab came missing speaker, mounting nuts and wiring. The casters are non original and were pretty trashed. Someone added an extra speaker jack for some unknown reason at some point over the years as well, planning on plugging this along with all the other extra holes.

Hey! Someone thought they were Jackson Pollock at some point in their ownership! Or they were a huge fan of the Strokes? Who knows? Either way, the drip art covered the top and sides like this and all was buried under the firsts post's flat black. The drip art paint is acrylic and is a cast iron PITA to sand through.

But it does sand through! Under the acrylic drip art, there was more black and then some grey primer as a base. The baltic birch looks quite nice on this cab.

And the sides next...

Bulk of the sanding done! The bare wood looks so nice I'm tempted to simply seal it with many coats of clear to show it off. My actual plan is to stain it black to show off some grain and then clear coat the heck out of it, mostly because I am going to pop in some white piping and I want it to really pop!

Once I get the baffle out, I will still have a bit more sanding to remove some of the flat black around where the baffle is but that should be it aside from the extensive finishing work at the end.

All of the sanding has been over the last few months. The past few weeks, I've started plugging the holes in the baffle with the holes in the bottom of the cab coming next.

I also took the time to fill an edge that was becoming delaminated on the bottom rear with some Titebond and clamp it down tight but forgot to take any pics of that entirely!

Cool! Not gonna tolex it huh? Either way, it's going to be much better

My skillset with tolex is much lower than general woodworking and finishing wheelhouse. I can pull off a much nicer finished cab this way than if I hacked some tolex on there.

i'm enjoying how this thread is going. have you considered staining then doing some clear coat? could look pretty dope.

also, i think these came with fane pops like my 4x12. might be worth tracking a set down.

Great thread.
I'm looking forward to watching this project come together. Also, much respect for putting in so much work sanding that thing!

s_mcsleazy wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 30, 2024 11:40 am

have you considered staining then doing some clear coat? could look pretty dope.

hulakatt wrote: ↑

Mon Jan 29, 2024 8:32 pm

The bare wood looks so nice I'm tempted to simply seal it with many coats of clear to show it off. My actual plan is to stain it black to show off some grain and then clear coat the heck out of it, mostly because I am going to pop in some white piping and I want it to really pop!

Tempted to just clear coat but still on track to stain it black and clear coat it.

Also, I'm not in the mood to hunt down and pay for a quad a Fanes that may or may not be in any kind of condition after 50 years. I have a quad of Reeves Purple speakers ready for this cab.

level3 wrote: ↑

Tue Jan 30, 2024 12:21 pm

Also, much respect for putting in so much work sanding that thing!

So glad I didn't sand it by hand! Can't wait til it's done either.

All the holes in the baffle are plugged!

And one of the recessed handles is out so I can work on removing the speaker baffle now. This is one of those things where I have to remove three things just to remove the one thing I want to take out. Who designed this? BMW?

The screws were a little hesitant to leave their place of rest and I've heard the handle recesses like to stay in place so I lightly heated the whole part up with a heat gun just to loosen everything up and it worked a treat. I hope the same trick works on the baffle.

More fun with a heat gun, power drill and a mallet today! Knocked out the cleats around the rear of the baffle (held in with screws) and the baffle itself also has screws holding it to the rear of the front lip. Lots of screws in this cab. The front baffle was missing all of the screws along the top edge and most of the screws along both sides were bent so it's obvious the baffle's been out before and put back in but not by the same person who just cut the grill cloth off in place because the original grill cloth is still around the edges of the baffle.



Gonna pick up some replacements for these screws, there a bit careworn and, uh, bent and rusted AF?



Still to sand the inner lips back to raw wood on the shell and on to finishing!



I may knock back some of the many coats of paint built up on the baffle but it doesn't have to look pretty, it's gonna end up with a coat or two of flat black from a rattle can and then on to Grill cloth. Couldn't find any actual Blue and Grey Hiwatt cloth but the Marshall Salt and Pepper is the same pattern and a pretty close color match, I just have to remember that Marshall and Hiwatt aligned theme in different directions.

There are so many staples holding the old grill cloth fragments on. So. Many. Staples.

This may take some time.

Also: poll added

Does anyone have a source for the OG Hiwatt blue/grey grill cloth? I have Marshall Salt N Pepper but if I can source a roll of OG stuff, I'd rather use that.