Zebra stripe SLP build

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Geeze

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Yep, I'm back for another round of Let's build something crazy!. I've been intrigued with building vine looking, flag looking and simply - in my opinion - good looking head and speaker cabs. A cutting board exploration did for a jury selection show in 2021 [cancelled :realmad:] all pieces cut separately and then hand fitted - a job of work.

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Led to a cutting technique of using painters tape and CA to glue boards together for complementary bandsaw cuts that glue neatly together -

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Which - in true wood Let's build something crazy! led to the purchase of a scrollsaw to see if the complementary cuts could be done with the significantly finer cutting scrollsaw blades which yielded this

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Alas the scrollsaw blade can't tightened enough to yield a true vertical cut as it wends along so I went back to the bandsaw to make wedding present boards for my son who's friends are getting married in droves

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To do these I glued a walnut to a maple [half of the leaf width] and ran them through the bandsaw to yield a reasonably nice finish. Bandsaws also tend to flex vertically when forced to cut tight radius curves with a 1/2" blade. A smaller blade will turn tighter corners but aren't as rigid as the wider blades so they 'walk' more which requires epoxy fill in the gaps.

So all of this is a long-winded journey toward the zebra cab.

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After looking at numerous zebra pics I've come up with this as the first draft.

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Many times the zebra stripes come to a point which isn't duplicatable with a bandsaw so some artful fixes are required such as stopping the point of the stripe on an edge.

I'm off to try some test cuts to see if this viable enough to commit $250-$300 worth of wood to the cause.

Russ
 

V-man

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I am sure you’ve committed to the project as is, but I would suggest the zebra for a JCM as the quintessential “classy/trashy” 80s rig, and in its place, perhaps a checkerboard SLP, ala Rick Nielsen, but I am sure you have settled on your project and not sure if checkerboard is too challenging (or not challenging enough) in 3D form.
 

Geeze

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I am sure you’ve committed to the project as is, but I would suggest the zebra for a JCM as the quintessential “classy/trashy” 80s rig, and in its place, perhaps a checkerboard SLP, ala Rick Nielsen, but I am sure you have settled on your project and not sure if checkerboard is too challenging (or not challenging enough) in 3D form.
Agreed on the 80's trash. My issue is I'm down to one JMP 2203 which may get moved along and all I'll have left are 1959 / 1987 which look wrong in the later JMP / JCM cabs in my opinion. They also bring another challenge for the side & top 'wrap' of material.

Funny you asked about checkerboard - I've contemplated that for years the trick there is getting the right width on the 29.5" and then managing the sides so the checker is the same width whilst wrapping around the corner.

Glued up, trimmed then sketched on the trial bits

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Cut

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Arraigned. The side benefit of this method is it yields two boards.

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Glue up will be a pain in the ass.

Russ
 

Geeze

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Clamp porn.

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I originally planned to dye one to see how scarlet - originally thought 'bloody zebra' - would look and a lightbulb from the deep darkness whispered to mask off sections to look like dripping and splattered blood which would add a third dynamic to the design.

Thoughts like this excite the design process and push the boundaries. On this test piece probably slated to be a cutting board it will be ironic.

Embrace the darkness...

Russ
 

Geeze

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Glued up and milled to the same height.

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Experimenting with dyes for one of the head cabs. This is on 80 gr sanded not the 220 gr sanded I usually sand to before finishing.

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Stringbox cut to join the sides together.

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Overall the cuts are clean and joints are tight. Greenlight for moving forward. Cutting the 75"+ inches of maple and walnut sandwich and then gluing the 150" together is daunting at this point. There are a number of unknowns ahead but rather than get stuck in analysis paralysis it's BANZAI time.

Russ
 

Geeze

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Sketch out and working out the side 'wrap around' stripes and how they will affect the front panel.

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Blue tape backer for the CA to temporarily stick the walnut and maple together.

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Since I will have 60 parts to sort I got semi smart and numbered them before I cut.

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Cut 'em on a platform not designed for such foolishness. It worked - sorta - the first three cuts of 8-9" each were a bit tension filled as once you start you can't stop mid cut without unhappiness occurring.

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Big pile of parts.

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Untaped, sanded and arraigned.

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I'm contemplating cutting a few of the walnut bits toward the center of the top 1.5" in from the rear edge and 1.5" wide to act as vents. Will need to cogitate more on this.

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Long and boring glue up commences...

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Coffee time.

Russ
 

Geeze

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Planks are cured, sanded flat and edge trimmed using a 'shooting' board. The other side will be cut using the saw fence.

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Bits cut to size, I had a oops in the form of a piece of cutoff jammed into the cut, stopped the saw and pushed the saw blade deeper into the side I wished it hadn't. Subsequently one of the cabs will be 10.5" tall vs. the Marshall SLP standard of 10.75". Mumble mumble...

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Fingers cut on Thing One.

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The 90° transition looks better than I expected it to,

Coffee time then off to cut fingers on Thing Two.

Russ
 

BlueX

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Bits cut to size, I had a oops in the form of a piece of cutoff jammed into the cut, stopped the saw and pushed the saw blade deeper into the side I wished it hadn't. Subsequently one of the cabs will be 10.5" tall vs. the Marshall SLP standard of 10.75". Mumble mumble...
artful fixing, or what was the term
 

Ronquest

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I can see it now, Honey, that's not a bread board, that's my amp!

What method are you using to cut your finger joints? I started using the table saw and sled, but soon found that there's too much slop when you get into wider boards. I've since modded a Harbor Freight dovetail jig just for finger joints. The more I think about it the more I'm justifying a small CNC router, then I can use it for faceplates too.
 
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