The Amp Garage

Hello, i have some good spruce in my shop and it would be enough to build a 1x10 guitar cabinet.
I see most builders are going for pine or birch plywood and i don t understand why the spruce is never a choice.
I m a woodworker and i can tell that pine and spruce are very similar, both soft and and full of resin. The pine is slightly more dense and heavy but we re talking about minor differences.
You knock them and you get similar behaviour and response, both are very resonant with a pronounced response in the upper mids.
There are many variants of the same wood so i m not trying to simplify the argument.
Just talking and see what you think.

It will be good! Solid pine is more resonant than ply. I loved it for low wattage amps.

In the US, commonly sold construction lumber is known as SPF, which stands for spruce pine fir. We often refer to this as "pine" but it could be any of those. It is possible to find any of these, rough cut and clearly identified by species, at a sawmill, but many people don't even know where to find a sawmill. Then, the wood needs to be planed and sized to its final dimensions. This is a lot of effort that requires tools and skills. So, most folks just buy what they can get -- SPF -- at Home Depot, Lowes, and similar places. Pine is good, so is spruce.

That must be the reason why, everybody is just calling it pine
I knew i was missing something.
I have a couple of laminated sheet that i made my self using a nice spruce and i can t wait to make a cabinet out of it.
I also have some 1/2 birch plywood for the baffle. I will add some picture.

It would be helpful if you edit your profile to include the country where you live (location.) When there is a discussion of materials, this can make a difference in how a question is answered and whether you get useful information.

I will, thank you!

Spruce (actual spruce) has lower fundamental resonance, which is good for musical sound. Spruce has been used to make drum shells (laminated, of course), and their sound is very warm and full of bass. I bet an actual spruce cab would sound great, especially with a floating baffle. Just make sure that your fasteners are reinforced and designed not to split the wood.

ViperDoc wrote: ↑Fri Jun 17, 2022 11:51 pm Spruce (actual spruce) has lower fundamental resonance, which is good for musical sound. Spruce has been used to make drum shells (laminated, of course), and their sound is very warm and full of bass. I bet an actual spruce cab would sound great, especially with a floating baffle. Just make sure that your fasteners are reinforced and designed not to split the wood.

Hello, i still don't understand what is the meaning of “floating” baffle.
I usually use two pieces of the same wood and i glue and clamp them on the inner side of cabinet to create a rebate.
Then after i have attached the tolex to the baffle I just push it from the front (it is going to be a tight fit because of the tolex) then i secure it in place with four or six screws.
Would you do it differently?

A “floating baffle” can be installed in different ways, but it defines a baffle that has the ability to resonate, unlike a fixed baffle that is secured on all four sides. You can secure opposing sides inside their own rabbet channel, for example, and leave the other two sides open, either with a thin through-and-through arrangement, or simply butt-jointed but unglued/screwed. Not sure on the best design, but that’s what a floating baffle is. It allows the cabinet to participate more in the sound.

I don t think The cabinet it going to partecipate a lot with a floating baffle and this is probably the intent. So why a guitar neck needs to be attached to the body of the guitar with glue or screws and be as tight as possible in its pocket, you want it to transfer as more as possible.
I think that a floating baffle is going to transfer less to the cabinet and this is probably wanted to avoid too much resonation or bass response.
Lower frequencies travel through vibrations, a baffle glued to the cabinet would transfer more of those.

The cabinet will resonate and contribute either way, but the floating baffle design is preferred by those who like its sound, particularly in solid pine cabs. I don’t know where you live, but there’s a builder in Colorado (Sounds Rite Audio) that specializes in open baffle, solid pine cabs. He could tell you what an open baffle would and wouldn’t do.

It is time

ViperDoc wrote: ↑Sun Jun 19, 2022 10:49 pm The cabinet will resonate and contribute either way, but the floating baffle design is preferred by those who like its sound, particularly in solid pine cabs. I don’t know where you live, but there’s a builder in Colorado (Sounds Rite Audio) that specializes in open baffle, solid pine cabs. He could tell you what an open baffle would and wouldn’t do.

What would that sound be?

Poplar is similar to pine/spruce without the nasty resin and no tendency to warp. I used it in a narrow panel build with 2 x 10" speakers; floating baffle of 1/2" ply. Sounded fine.

The floating baffle was intended to improve bass response in open cabinet designs. I found it can eliminate the boxy sound produced by small closed cabinets with a fixed baffle.

statorvane wrote: ↑Wed Jun 22, 2022 8:58 am Poplar is similar to pine/spruce without the nasty resin and no tendency to warp. I used it in a narrow panel build with 2 x 10" speakers; floating baffle of 1/2" ply. Sounded fine.

The floating baffle was intended to improve bass response in open cabinet designs. I found it can eliminate the boxy sound produced by small closed cabinets with a fixed baffle.

I need to take a better look into this.
If i understand it correctly, you just let the baffle be in a rabbit hole type of channel inside the cabinet, no screws or glue whatsoever?