re- veneering

[christray]

Anyone know who could re- veneer a set of klipsch heresy speakers in the leicestershire area.

thanks in advance. chris

 

[SergeAuckland]

Sorry, not in Leicestershire, but if you can't find anybody locally, I can recommend the man who did my 801Fs, Richard Lebbon. He's just outside Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk

www.reandjblebbon.co.uk

I found him by looking for furniture restorers.

S

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[Cable Monkey]

http://www.layers-of-beauty.co.uk/index.html

Not Leicestershire, but worth the 3 hour round trip both ways to drop off a pair of tatty boxes and collect a beautiful pair of speakers.

 

[MotherSky]

Any decent restorer should be able to sort you out - have a look on www.bafra.org.uk - probably best if you remove drive units/crossovers etc yourself & present it as a straightforward cabinet making job

 

[droodzilla]

A daft question but roughly how much does re-veneering cost?

Say I have a small BBC-monitor size speaker and want it done in tasteful natural oak?

 

[Cable Monkey]

Russ quoted me over the phone. Small surface areas like smaller monitors make it much more affordable. Mine were Tannoy Devon boxes and I was more than happy with the quote.

 

[SergeAuckland]

I paid £500 to have my 801Fs reveneered in Zebrano. Considering the amount of work involved, it seemed reasonable. A simple box would presumably be rather less.

S

 

[RSand]

This is really not a difficult thing to do yourself, I've veneered lots of things including speakers.

I've had great results using a contact adhesive but many suppliers sell iron on veneer. This place has some basic woods http://www.iplacoustics.co.uk/INDEX.htm but a quick search of the web will turn up more exotics like zebrano, yew, olive, ebony etc.

How I've always done it is stick oversized pieces on then trim them flush with a scalpel (stanley knives don't leave a neat edge) veneer side down using the speaker cabinet itself as the straight edge. The hardest part is cutting the holes for the drivers, again overlap the holes and trim back using the existing hole as a cutting edge. Sounds hard but so long as you take a bit of care and time over it the results are perfect.

Once all sides are done, a quick sanding paying close attention to the edges is needed. I found sanding all the edges off as right angles made for a very smart and continuous look.

There are a couple of finishing options:

waxing has a matte sheen, is water and red wine resistant liquids just bead on the surface. Its super quick and easy to do and looks smart.

french polishing is also remarkably easy to do (lots of guides on the web) time consuming but easy enough on flat sided boxes like speakers.

If i did a pair again I would get it piano lacquered by a professional finisher.

After you've sorted the finish its time to re install the speakers, you can use the existing cabling but this is a good time to change it for something superior if you wish (its surprising how many are wired with bell wire.

If you do decide to go ahead on your own feel free to contact me for advice as needed.

Rob

 

[bonneville]

What kind of veneer were you thinking of using ? I have Heresy 3's finished in Lacewood rather smart, imo of course.

 

[christray]

lacewood is nice, preparing the cabs is no problem as i am car painter . Are the veneer sheets avaliable in widths in excess of 25 inches as that takes out alot of issues re matching. I was going to sprayer the cabs in a car finish but i don't know on something as traditional as a hersey. Vinnie if your still thinking of getting the yams done let me know dimensions and what sort of thing you wanted re, finish. Thanks for the replies and cheers Rob for the offer of advice.

 

[bonneville]

I am toying with selling the Yamaha's,I can't make my mind up which speakers to keep,Heresy's or Yams,one pair has to go.

 

[THOMO]

I paid £500 to have my 801Fs reveneered in Zebrano. Considering the amount of work involved, it seemed reasonable. A simple box would presumably be rather less.S

Yes very reasonable.Whoever did it is working for about the same hourly rate as a Bangladeshi shirt maker.

 

[SergeAuckland]

Yes very reasonable.Whoever did it is working for about the same hourly rate as a Bangladeshi shirt maker.

He did say that it turned out to be more work than he thought!

S