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WESTERN ELECTRIC WE75C BUILD FROM SCRATCH


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A friend commissioned me to build a replica cabinet of this vintage speaker (to slightly different dimensions). First pic shows the speaker as built. Second pics show my progress so far. Third pic shows rear of WE753 (using 15" woofer). Dimension on 753 were 30" tall, 20" wide and 14" deep.  This build is 30" tall, 24" wide and 14" deep.  He is going to place these in an opening in a wall cabinet. 

The grill (top, bottom and slats) are solid walnut. The sides will be 3/4" BB ply with a 1/2" ply panel veneer on top with curly walnut veneer.   I used walnut edge banding to hide the ply edges on 1/2" ply panels.   Top is  figured walnut veneer matching up with the back of the front top piece which is solid walnut. My friend  is using a 12" Altec 601C woofer (he had it reconed at Great Plains Audio) and GPA driver on a mid/tweeter horn (horn bends downward to allow shallow cabinet (14" deep).

The grill was a chore to get right. The motorboard is  installed through the removable back with brown cane type grill material. He will use an EV electronic crossover. Cabinet is vented.

I'll post as I proceed.

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Schu, yes solid walnut on the front grill and on the edges of the top and bottom and curly walnut aircraft grade veneer on the top and sides.  baltic birch ply everywhere else.

 

I've posted on the forum the LaScala I built using 1" baltic birch ply with cherry veneer, Belle bass bins from scratch  using 1.25" ply on the sides and cherry veneer and several Heresy redos.  I've attached a three way non Klipsch build with curved sides and solid bubinga top and trip with 12" woofer, 8 x 12 inch mid with Selenium D250 mid and 1" titanium dome tweeter.  I'll post some pics

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No. 4, yes building one at a time.  Second one should go faster since I know how it all fits together and what to avoid on the second build.

 

Seti, my friend using a reconed Altec 601C duplex speaker without the tweeter for the woofer and a GPA driver.  He has the bent horns to use as well.  He is going to biamp it with a 25watt amp for the woofer and 2 watts for the tweeter.

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3 hours ago, longdrive03 said:

No. 4, yes building one at a time.  Second one should go faster since I know how it all fits together and what to avoid on the second build.

 

Seti, my friend using a reconed Altec 601C duplex speaker without the tweeter for the woofer and a GPA driver.  He has the bent horns to use as well.  He is going to biamp it with a 25watt amp for the woofer and 2 watts for the tweeter.

 

The horns aren't an easy score.

 

 

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Thanks for the compliment tk49.  I use the lazy man's finish - Minwax wipe on poly - satin finish.  Apply it with the famous Harbor Freight stain pads (no 48166).  I've got 4 coats on now and probably do 2-3 more then will wet sand with 500 grit then apply Minwax finishing wax with 0000 grit steel wool then buff with clean cotton cloth.  Turns out slicker than snot on a doorknob!

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Doesn't sound too lazy man to me. Poly will give a reasonably hard finish and with a wet sand and finishing with the 0000 steel wool, it will be smooth to the touch. I like shellac, not near as hard as a poly, but will render a fine finish. The other thing about shellac is it plays well with other finishes. Poly is multiple individual layers, where shellac is multiple layers melding into one. I struggled with tung oil at first, but when done right it can give a hard smooth finish. One doesn't fit all, it all boils down to what you what/need from your finish. Once again nice work.

 

t

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Tk49, I love the project with my favorite combo of curly walnut and curly maple.  Great contrast and excellent work!!

Ceptorman, thanks for the compliment!

Got the grill materials stretched over the motoroboard last night.  Love the material and the contrast with walnut.  Can't post more pics because of size limitations??  Don't know how to fix that?  

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