La Scalas - Restored and Fully Veneered

[aaronhirsch]

Before:

 

After:

 

It was BRUTALLY difficult to veneer the interior sections of the La Scalas without taking them apart. Fully 90% of my time was devoted to dealing with the interior of these guys. I thought it would take about 20 hours to do in total. I estimate that it took about 200 hours all in. If you want to do this, you need to take them apart -- at least the sides. I was too intimidated to attempt it, but in retrospect, it's definitely the way to go. In fact the way to go, if I'm being perfectly honest is to get a side gig, earn $18,000, set aside $5,000 to pay income taxes and then buy new La Scalas. Luckily I like the look of the old ones more than the new ones, but jeez, what a project. I can't say I didn't enjoy it, because I really did. But it was a commitment.

[Dave MacKay]

Looks fabulous! Congratulations on a lovely job.

[babadono]

Absolutely stunning!  You have made PWK smile from above. That is cherry veneer? What is your source?

[aaronhirsch]

Lightly figured cherry. Veneersupplies.com

[babadono]

Thanks...that is who I am trying to go through to get cherry veneer to do my Jubes. Supplies/choices are very limited at the moment. Did you use heatlock? Or contact cement?

[eth2]

Amazing!!!!

[winglet]

Well done.  They look great, although I gotta say, I do like the vintage, beat up road warrior look of them previously

[Coytee]

Call me a wimp but there's no way I'd want to take the sides off.  I'd presume they were built to last (mine are circa 1979 and still going strong enough I'd easily stand on them)

 

With my skillset, if I knocked the sides off, I'd do some other damage as the glue comes apart or maybe a finish nail in there somewhere....

 

As has been said, you did a fantastic job!!

 

 

[babadono]

59 minutes ago, winglet said:

do like the vintage, beat up road warrior look of them previously

ur high

[babadono]

@aaronhirsch I thing you best get some glass tops fab'd right quick before there is an unfortunate accident

[OO1]

 2 klipsch badges , and you're all done .

[geezin']

I was thinking about that pair. Drug my feet and you beat me to it. Nice work.

[aaronhirsch]

5 hours ago, babadono said:Did you use heatlock? Or contact cement?

Contact cement. I had to use bondo and contact cement is the only thing that will stick to it.

[hugot]

They look great

 

[Peter P.]

Yeah; I think you did a great job with the veneer.

 

But the original has such patina! It spells "aged" and matches the vintage Victrola. Much more interesting to look at, like if only they could tell their story...

[Marvel]

Taking them apart and putting them back together would be a challenge. Klipsch used countersunk ring nails on the early LS. I know Dennis (djk) made about a dozen pair of the LS bass horns, but be had a whole bunch of jigs set up to cut the parts. He used a roundover bit and painted them black for P.A. use

 

Those look fabulous!

[M_Klipsches]

Those look fantastic! Well done. 

[aaronhirsch]

On 5/12/2023 at 6:33 PM, OO1 said:

 2 klipsch badges , and you're all done .

Oh, I like it more without! It keeps it more mysterious. This is the speaker David Lynch would use in his films! It's kind of like: what the heck are those things?? And we know exactly what they are. 😉

Edited May 15, 2023 by aaronhirsch

[Dave1291]

Nice job!  Veneer is amazing on those. 

 

[AudioSlave]

Great job on those, for sure! They look awesome. It’s definitely a labor of love, isn’t it?

Love the figured cherry. I almost went with the figured cherry I have on hand to veneer the Belles I’m currently making, but opted for the highly figured Bose Spanish cedar I had scored on an eBay auction 5 or 6 years ago.  Veneering the panels flat on a bench is pretty straightforward. Veneering angles inside of a box with contact cement, mind you not so much!