Grill cloth

[davidwpack]

I'm really hoping this will be one of the last questions concerning speakers and cabinets. I've been watching the you tubes about grill cloth. Some people are applying it directly to the baffle. Others set the baffle back and build an additional frame for the cloth. Is one way superior to the other or just a matter of preference? It would seem that building an additional frame and setting the baffle back would affect the sound, possibly to a detriment?...but it looks much nicer. Please explain immediately in your replies below. 1..2..3...go! ...dave

[davidwpack]

I was being facetious by the way. I hope "1,2,3, go!" wasn't too much.

[jjasilli]

Place the grill cloth against the baffle, so long as you wear your underwear outside your pants.

[davidwpack]

Good idea!  So build the additional frame for the cloth...I think you're saying?

[jjasilli]

 

[shooter]

find a nice gallery, poke at the paintings, you won't find many glued down to a board 

[davidwpack]

Not glued. Stretched tight and stapled to the back. It's attatched to the baffle with no additional framing. It's stretched tight enough that it's not in contact with the front. I own this cab but I'm not sure I like this method. That's why I was asking if making an additional frame would be better than this. Sorry if I'm not explaining this well enough. Here's a picture of what I'm talking about. Thanks!

[Willabe]

Just take ~1/2" wide strips of ~1/4" plywood and glue them to the baffle board perimeter.

This will keep the grill cloth from vibrating against the baffle board.

Fender did it this way on many amps. Much easier than a whole separate frame.   

[davidwpack]

Thanks Willabe. I might try that. I watched quite a few videos and I think everyone had a different method. I'll figure something out in the next couple of days.

[jjasilli]

Two considerations. 

Speaker mounting:  If the speaker is mounted from the rear, or front-mounted into a recess, then the outer face of the baffle board is smooth.  So, grill cloth can be applied directly to the baffle board.  If the speaker is front-mounted, with the speaker rim resting on the outer face of the baffle board, then the grill cloth needs to be mounted separately because the speaker rim sits proud of the baffle board. (Though Willabe offers an elegant solution to that, which can make the grill cloth proud of the protruding speaker!)

Enclosed cab:  If you want a truly airtight cab, then the baffle board must be an integral part of the body of the cab.  This in turn requires separate mounting of the grill cloth.  If the grill cloth surrounds the baffle board, then the cab is not fully airtight. 

(I'm not advocating enclosed cabs, or full air tightness; just pointing out the mounting considerations.)

[davidwpack]

I didn't consider that. My intentions are to make it "convertible" so that I can remove or add a panel to have the option of closed or open back. I need to go with the more airtight method then. Thanks!

[sluckey]

This is the first cab I ever built back in the late '60s. It's a 2x15 that was used for bass. I originally had the grill cloth attached directly to the baffle. Tested just fine at home with guitar at living room volume. I was so proud! Took it to the club that Saturday night to play bass. Before I even got tuned up I realized my mistake. That grill cloth buzzed like a bee hive on almost every bass note! Needless to say no one was impressed. The following week I pulled the grill cloth and glued 1-1/2" wide by 1/4" thick plywood strips around the edges of the baffle. You can see them in the pic. Problem solved.

BTW, that's also my first amp project on top of that cab. It's a Sunn Sonora bass head.

[davidwpack]

I like that silver tolex! Yeah, I'm going to build a frame. I'm not worried about the extra work. I just wasn't sure about stuffing framing for the baffle, the baffle itself, and then an additional frame into a cab. I've got the shell of it built out of 1"x10" pine so I just wasn't sure how much internal space speakers like.

[Jennings]

One of the most annoying cabs I ever had was one where the cloth was mounted directly, so was in direct contact with the baffle.  It was a cab I used for both guitar and bass, but both sets of frequencies caused the cloth to vibrate and therefore "slap" the baffle.  It was such an annoying rattle that I eventually glused the cloth to the baffle and cut out the speaker holes, mounting metal screw on gills over them.  Fixed, but looks a little medieval!  Easier than reworking the cabinet though.  However, my AC30 never had these issues and is direct mounted...but the grill is much less rigid than a basketweave type.  So my rule of thumb is that if the grill is more on the fabric side and destined for a guitar cab, stretch it tight and it should be fine.  If it's basketweave or rigid type, especially if destined for a cab with a lot of lows, maybe consider the stand off.