For protection. Also, it looks cool.
A few years back, I got a new bass amp and cab. For those non-musicians, that means I got a big speaker to use with my bass guitar. I got it used, and though I wasn't impressed with my experience buying used through Guitar Center, ultimately, it was workable.
The cab came without a grill cover on it, which I knew when I purchased it, so I thought maybe I could make one for it. Here's what it looked like.
As is my usual style, I wanted to bring a subtle mid-century modern furniture style to it by using vertical strips of wood. I had a few challenges to sort out:
The strips of wood had to be strong enough to actually be protective and not break when taking the cab on gigs
I wanted the vertical strips to somewhat appear to be floating in place, so any horizontal supportive strips would need to be hidden. But I also had to be able to affix the whole assembly to the face of the cab securely.
I didn't want the grill to affect the sound output of the cab. In large part, that means the less restriction the grill would have on airflow, the less impact it would have on sound.
The plan was simple enough to start. Use triangular blocks in the corners that would attach to the cab and also hold the grill frame. Use three horizontal strips (painted black as to be hidden) as a frame for the vertical strips.
The difficult part was the vertical strips. I had to taper the back of each strip as much as possible while still keeping square sections that would seat in the horizontal strips. Here's an animation showing some of the shaping.
All said and done, everything ended up fitting perfectly with no buzzing (always a concern with bass frequencies), and I couldn't discern any change in frequency output. Success!
On a final note, I would've wanted to use Black Walnut for true mid-century modern looks, but I opted for strength (and cost effectiveness), so I stained Oak for a somewhat similar appearance.
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