Thickness of "floating baffle boards" Fender style???

[ohm-men]

Hi All,

I wanna build a few small cabs for 12" speakers that I have.
I'm thinking of a very small 1x12" open back (will be using a Clesestion 40W speaker from an older defunct Marshall Cab) and a
2x12" Bassman style closed back (will be using 2 H/H 12" speakers rated a 75w each).

Thing is, I wanna build them as cheap as possible. I already have the sides (multiplex pine and Multiplex Poplar boards)
So, I got that covered. I'm thinking of using multiplex pine boards for the speaker baffle's and place them "floating" like on the old early/mid 60ties Fender cabs.

So, my question. How much does the thickness of the baffle board influence the sound? (I know the old Bassmen Tweed cabs had thin baffle boards)
But I have no idea how (on both closed and open cabs) the thickness of these boards influence the sound....

Anyone can shed some light over this?

[øøøøøøø]

depends on the construction of the cab, but they can influence the sound quite a bit.

If they're hung from the top and bottom and allowed to float free on the sides, then a thinner baffle (say 3/8" in imperial measurements, if I remember correctly) will resonate quite a bit. You have to make sure that the wood is strong and thick enough to hold the speakers without cracking though, so there's a balance to be struck.

[ohm-men]

Thanks! Good to know.
Well, I'm gonna experiment a bit. I also got some MDF that I can use.
I'm sure it will sound different. But cutting up some bards ain't that big of a job.

The 1x12" will be open back, so I can use it as an extension cabinet for my tremolux. It sounded promesing in combination with a closed 2x12" cab.
The 2x12" must be closed back, since I intend to use this with my DIY Bass VI and amps.
But 3/8 is close to 9mm, which I think will be strong enough to hold the speaker(s)
The 2x12 will be build like an early mid 60ties Bassman cabinet, so with divider, etc, so I guess the thin baffle board will have enough support from the construction.

[øøøøøøø]

the originals had extra 1/8" or 1/4" strips around the perimeter to add strength. I'd guess they were about 1" wide. I'm jsut guessing here. I'm sure there's someone out there who knows for real.

[ohm-men]

Indeed, they had. I just looked at some online pics I found of a 64' bassman cab. It had these strips. 1" seams to be what they are.(thickness seams to be the same)
Baffle looked a bit thicker though, but since the "strips" kind of "box" the baffle board in, I think 3/8 will work.
Def. gonna give it a try. Though it will be a "spring" project as the moisture and temp is not ideal for cabinet building in my garage at the moment....

[Stratelejazzuar]

I'm pretty sure the old style Fender baffles are 1/2" board, with 1/4" strips around the edge.

[øøøøøøø]

depends on the era and on the amp. I'm talking about tweed amps here.

They were indeed 1/2" in the blackface era on the bigger amps.

Tweed champs had a 1/4" baffle!

[Stratelejazzuar]

depends on the era and on the amp. I'm talking about tweed amps here.

They were indeed 1/2" in the blackface era on the bigger amps.

Tweed champs had a 1/4" baffle!

okay, yeah, i don't know anything about tweeds except they look great and apparently sound pretty good .

I just remember doing the research for my 1x15 '67 bassman and finding the 1/2' and 1/4" specs.

there's probably a good website someplace that has info on all of this stuff