Fender 6G15 Cabinet Build Tips

[roboDNA]

Hello,

I built a fender 6G15 cabinet from 3/4" baltic birch plywood ( tolex ) and it went well, so I now plan to build a 'super, super nice' one from eastern white pine an leave the wood exposed ( no tolex ).  The wood I plan to source from the local sawmill is older with tight rings with no knots ( standard C or standard D grade 'clear' pine ).  I plan to try air dried and kiln dried to see how they each adapt to my shop's climate.  I have the jigs for the 3/8" finger joints for tear-out free cuts.   I see some cabinets from '62 and '63 and the seem to have black paint inside but not sure if it should remain unfinished.  ( maybe just black face was painted black inisde? )

I"m sure I've missed some things to make it super nice and want to avoid finding out too late. 

Any tips on how I can raise the cabinet build to level 11? 

Thank you!

[DeepBias]

Seems a nice project, the original Fender 6G15 had the reverb tank suspended by springs over a piece of foam stuck to the board. The pan lock is pushing the pan all the way in so the foam mutes the reverb pan springs stopping them from moving in transport.
 

[scstill]

If you are going with a super nice exposed wood cabinet
I would suggest keeping the inside wood tone as well.
Just paint the front of the speaker baffle so it doesn't show through the grill cloth

[roboDNA]

I saw a nice 'hatch' mechanism somewhere for that 'tank transit bracket'.  You could reach in and unlatch it but some people often forget to unlatch for the live show apparently.  I read somewhere that bracket was only in the first few runs but not sure.  I'll add one of those FOR SURE. I was thinking of adding a light when the bracket is engaged.   Apparent the foam rots/degrades and crumbles away too?  Maybe leather instead of foam? 

I'll keep the inside wood tone, maybe even unfinished...

That leads me to another question:  Have you seen those metal 'ears' on some earlier builds?   The metal seems like a different type than the chassis, and it seems to attach somehow to to the main chassis but I have not seen any pics for it at the right angle.  I know the ears screw into the rear panel vertical posts.  I'm guessing the chassis on more recent models and clones are secured only by those 2 bolts going through the top and faceplate?  Maybe they figured that was secure enough and dropped the metal ears.

The baltic birch plywood one I built looks great on my bench with the baffle dry-fitted.  Just waiting on my deep-purple tolex :)

The eastern white pine one I started needs better pine.  The boards were slightly warped with small cracks.  Not dried correctly.  I plan on looking at premium pine boards this week and they should be the very best you can get.  No knots, no cracks, no warping, tight grain, clear pattern and good supply.   ( I'm at the doorstep of Algonquin Park in Ontario Canada and we have the really old/large pines here... I'm also trying to get my hands on some pine which has been submerged for over 100 years.  Those logs were too big/heavy for loggers to float them down the river here, and they happen to be the best ones  ) 

[dogburn]

The latching mechanism can be handy if you are transporting the unit a lot. Have you seen the design that Uncle Doug came up with for engaging the damping foam? It's at ca. 14:00 in this video:

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