Musician Gear & Tech Discussion

Ya know I'm really just thinking out loud here, as it's no secret that real wood is much better than MDF for speaker cabinets, but I guess I never really had a good comparison unil now.

I just finished making two small cabinets out birch plywood and installed amps and speakers in them and holy-frick'n-cow...they absolutely RAWK! I really had a good "before and after" tone to compare and man, what a difference.

I guess I wasn't so much suprised at the tonal improvement, I knew there'd be some, but I had no idea just how much of an improvement there'd actually be. In addition to sounding better, now the amps are even louder and have much more resonance than they did with the old crappy MDF cabs.

Wood Rules!

Yep! Ask any carpenter!

Sweet man. I wish I had the time to make one for one of my Fenders.

You will feel even better if you ever drop them because the birch will survive where as the MDF (medium density fiberboard) would most likely not. Also the birch is a hell of a lot lighter!

Does not the computer designed interior configurations and specs of many of the new cab designs negate a lot of this effect.
Our mains are somekind of synthetic material. Very light of weight in comparison to the wood monitors.
I intend to get some three ways for mains in the future.
Wood would be best for a three way, wood it not?

Sound waves travel through the wood grain turning the whole cab into part of the speaker. Plywood has grain criss-crossing every layer carrying the sound both directions for contact with the next piece (side, top, bottom etc.). Designs are better now with the ability to match a speakers specs, but wood will always sound better than composite.

Yup, real wood is the only way to go....I'm already working on another cabinet.

I used to be happy with just a plain old amp and a decent distortion pedal, but lately I've been on some sort of "Tone Quest"...swapping pickups, changing out speakers and trying out different tubes...now I've gotten into the wood of it all and it seems that that is really where its at.

It's kind fo funny, but the lowest tech piece of the puzzle seems to make the most difference.

LOL, low tech indeed. My dear grandfather, the carpenter of the old school would sh*t if he heard you call ply real wood.

Amen to that Sans, but plywood does have it's place.

Plywood guitar =
Plywood cabs =

I have 2 giant KUSTOM pa cabs both real wood.

And then someone gave me a tuck and roll cab that has ply in it and no speakers/wiring.

All i can say is I am glad I looked closely as that ply cab is cheaply made.

I just wonder what Chanute, KS was thinking when they switched.

I was going to sell it for 50$ with no internals, but I think I might be better off burning it.

I think Sans Has the right idea. Ply has different grades. Birch ply and Apple ply can be very dense versions of plywood given the grade you buy. I can't say I've ever seen real MDF cabinets come from a manufacturer either. Real MDF is extremely dense and heavy. I made a speaker cabinet out of 3/4" MDF for my truck. It's much different than the particle board used for amp cabinets.

The only thing that makes Birch and Apple ply a better choice than MDF is the way it's constructed. Ply is made of layers of solid (unknown) woods in which the grains are crossed 90% to each other between each layer. That's to minimize warpage and expansion and contraction. MDF would actually warp less than ply, but the end grains don't take screws very well, if it gets wet it will swell, and it's just freaking heavy. Ply also has a stronger stress factor from the surface plane due to the fact that it still has the fibers of the wood holding together. MDF is a mixture of wood and glue, but without the fibers still interlocking. So the ply would bend further before it breaks, the MDF would snap in half quicker.

Technically Sans is right. The only thing that should be called real wood is wood that hasn't been made into ply or MDF etc.. But it wouldn't make an optimum choice for a 4x12 cabinet due to the warp factor and the way it would expand and contract due to weather changes. Great for smaller cabinets though. Especially if it's dovetailed together at the joints.

It would be interesting to hear the differences between cabinets made of each sitting side by side. But in my experiences with wood, a high grade ply cabinet would have the least amount of cons against it for a speaker cabinet. The only con it would have compared to real solid wood is the beauty of the grain and finish you can get with solid wood. I've seen some stellar tiger-striped and flamed maple cabinets over the years. If you ding it, you can always sand it and refinish. You can't do that with ply.

<B>Sans</B>, Grandpa can do whatever….. , as far as I’m concerned, <I>compared</I> to MDF, plywood is real wood, albeit just in layers.


<B>Ratsass</B>, very true…..I had an old Squire strat once that was made of plywood and it was the deadest sounding guitar I ever played.


<B>Shredd</B>, on the cabinets that I built, the birch plywood is only used on the back panel and the baffle, the rest is actually 1” thick pine boards. I can tell you as I compared the wood vs. MDF cabinets side by side with identical amps/speakers, the wood cab was about a third louder, and offered way more resonance and sustain than the original MDF cab. Way cool!

Birch, or birch ply is actually the best wood for speaker cabinets, as it is resonant in the low and high frequency areas......It reinforces the sound in these ranges, (the two areas where speakers are the most deficient).
MDF is too hard and heavy, it reflects sound, and is subject to moisture damage, (it makes great desks!)
Particle Board is too heavy and too soft, and is also subject to moisture damage, (makes great shelves!)
Pine is generally too soft, and absorbs and damps sound, and is subject to physical damage, (makes great panelling and veneers!)
Solid wood of any type is not generally practical for large cabinets, as one has to lay up several pieces side-by-side to get the size desired.....This immediately defeats the 'solid wood' concept, without the structural advantages of plywood.
Best speaker cabinet wood: Baltic Birch ply (if you can get it....if not, any good quality Birch ply)

Myke C.

Klipsch makes some great wood stereo spkr cabs out of high quality plywood. Their techs actually spend a long time pounding on 'em with lil rubber mallets to find sheets with dead spots, or holes in them.

Birch high-dollar ply is great for this. I"ve used it in furniture, too. Great stuff, it be.