4 DIY Guitar Speaker Cabinet Plans You Can Build Today (With Pictures)
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If you are a guitar player, nothing is more fun than building your rig. It’s a way to personalize your tone in ways you can’t do when purchasing your equipment. Learning how to build a guitar speaker cabinet is a great place to start because building it isn’t hard but can dramatically improve your tone. We’ve rounded up as many plans as we could find to help you get started with something that interests you. We’ve included pictures as well as a short description for each one, so you’ll know what you’re getting into before you start.
The 4 DIY Guitar Speaker Cabinet Plans
1. Practice Amp
| Tools: | Jigsaw, blade, drill |
| Supplies: | 18mm plywood, handle, audio input jack, cable, insulation wool, grill cloth, wood screws, screws with big washers and a self locking nut |
The Practice Amp project walks you through creating a practice-sized speaker cabinet that will also house the electronics section. There is enough room for a 12-inch speaker, great for a basement or attic rehearsal rooms. It’s not hard to build and results in a durable and attractive amplifier.
2. Custom Guitar Cab
| Tools: | Drill |
| Supplies: | 15mm plywood, number 10 screws, mounting bolt, T-nuts |
A guitar speaker cabinet is an essential part of any guitarist’s rig. This custom guitar cab is a personalized and unique speaker cabinet that can improve the tone of your guitar by reducing the cancellation of bass frequencies and providing a truer bass performance. Solid construction and airtight joints are important for avoiding buzzing and ensuring durability.
3. DIY Speaker Cabinet
| Tools: | Table saw, drill. Japanese razor saw, jeweller’s saw, circular routing jig |
| Supplies: | Two old pine shelves, plywood, glue, bolt, washer, double-sided tape |
The DIY Filmosound Amp Cabinet is a tall combo cabinet built from repurposed pine shelves. It features a sliding shelf to mount the Filmosound amp above the side-by-side 10-inch speakers, inspired by vintage Vox AC30 combos.
4. Custom Tolex Guitar Cab
This DIY guitar cab project is a customizable way to create a sturdy and functional speaker cabinet that can house a range of different speakers. The size and shape of the cab can be designed to fit the user’s preferences and needs, with options for 1×12, 2×12, or 4×12 configurations.
Essential Features of a Guitar Speaker Cabinet
Size and Shape of Cabinet
The size and shape of your guitar speaker cabinet can vary considerably. Most amps are square or rectangular and are generally wider than they are tall, though there are several exceptions on our list. It can be a simple box but will often sound better if you spend some time learning about wood bracing and ports to tune the amp to reproduce guitar tones better.
Size and Number of Speakers
Most guitar speakers are 12 inches wide. However, plenty of brands use smaller 10-inch or 8-inch speakers on studio or bedroom practice amps. You can even find smaller speakers on battery-powered portable amplifiers like the Pignose.
If you use your speaker cabinet in the recording studio or for practice, we recommend a single 10-inch or 12-inch speaker for most people. If you use your amp at rehearsal or for live performances, you will want one or more 12-inch speakers, depending on how much space you need to fill.
Many two-speaker amplifiers have built-in digital effects processors that create a stereo image. This effect can make your sound much fuller and wider than is possible from a single speaker.
Other Components
Most speaker cabinets will require you to attach a “head.” This component is responsible for amplifying the guitar signal and contains the electronics to do so. Combo amps have the electronics built into the speaker cabinet. Most professionals prefer the two-piece design because it allows them to mix and match for more tonal variety. However, if you are only building one cabinet, you might choose to make one that combines the electronics into the design.
Summary
If this is the first guitar speaker cabinet you will build, we recommend something easy with a single speaker and does not contain onboard electronics. Once you have some practice, the larger cabinets will provide you with a lot more volume, and experimenting with wood bracing, insulation, and bass ports will help you tune the sound.
We hope you have enjoyed reading and learned something new and found some ideas for a project you want to create. If we have helped you learn how to build a guitar speaker cabinet that you love, please share these guitar speaker cabinet plans you can build today on Facebook and Twitter.
Featured image credit: Aleisha Kalina, Unsplash
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