New veneer?

[Finleyville]

Alright Dougie,

I have been staring at your pics (beautiful speakers BTW) and have come up with an idea that I would like, maybe you too.

Since the baffle width is narrow and the drivers themselves use the majority of the frontal area I believe using a beautifully grained veneer on the whole front would be a waste. There is too little wood around the woofers to see that pattern.

What I would do is to divide the front baffle in two parts: the MTM and the WWWW. The MTM front baffle section would be veneered like the sides and perhaps the back. Then I would make the whole woofer front baffle section black. Or perhaps a removable oval shaped speaker grill covering just the woofer section. If you take any of these suggestions then I would only choose one type of veneer for the rest of the enclosure and not more. If you try to contrast different woods with the addition of the black bottom woofer section then it would look too busy.

Of course you could keep the lighter vertical grained bamboo for the front baffle and use something complimentary for the rest of the enclosure. Perhaps a darker vertically grained ebony for contrast?

In my opinion the more intricate the grain the veneer (burl, birds eye, etc.) then the more sparingly you use it.

[Hank]

I always encourage the use of paper-backed veneer. My favorite is Rosewood. If you want to do something different, I love the look of these three "3-D" figured species: Anegre, Makore and Sapele. The three dimensional look of their grains is uncanny. Check out the pics on Tape Ease and Oakwood Veneers.

[Hdale85]

I'll have to think about these ideas.

Michael, if I did that I don't think I'd leave the bamboo. Honestly even on the front the bamboo is a bit messed up. And to do the black I think I'd have to cut a new thin baffle or something. I don't know I think it would look funny if there was just a flat part on the front painted black.

[Martyn]

Dougie, if you haven't done much veneering before, this are big, complex speakers to practise on! With curved sides and all those driver cut-outs, you're almost certain to end up with more splits and blow-outs.

If you're really determined to give it another try, I'd go for a dark finish (cherry or rosewood) for several reasons: first, dark finishes are more forgiving (gaps and cracks don't show up as badly), and second, dark tones will be less intrusive when you're watching TV.

And now for something completely different...paint them! Go for some kind of satin grey that will complement the trim on your TV. This will have a modern look and will still provide some visual contrast with your drivers...

[Hdale85]

I couldn't paint them it would be far to painful Honestly the veneering process went really good. I just think the bamboo is a bit more sensitive then other veneers. I also apparently should of used a different bit in my router.

[Brian Bunge]

No, what you meant to say was "apparently I should have used a laminate trimmer and the proper trim bit!"

[Hdale85]

Yeah yeah yeah.