SDA CRS in zebrawood

mwelna
mwelna Posts: 24
edited June 2008 in Vintage Speakers
Inspired by many of you here I decided to embark on a veneering project with a pair of SDA CRS's i picked up on CL. The vinyl veneer was peeling and had sustained numerous scars undoubtedly from some wild 80's parties (cigarette burns, candle wax, razor blade scuffs, etc..). Here is the result. What a fun project. I never would have done it without you guys.
Thanks,
-mark
Post edited by mwelna on
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  • strider
    strider Posts: 2,568
    edited May 2008
    Very nice. Did you use edge banding for the piece under the grill? Would you mind describing how you went about finishing the veneer? Thanks,

    Ben
    Wristwatch--->Crisco
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  • wingnut4772
    wingnut4772 Posts: 7,519
    edited May 2008
    Dems is purdy.
    Sharp Elite 70
    Anthem D2V 3D
    Parasound 5250
    Parasound HCA 1000 A
    Parasound HCA 1000
    Oppo BDP 95
    Von Schweikert VR4 Jr R/L Fronts
    Von Schweikert LCR 4 Center
    Totem Mask Surrounds X4
    Hsu ULS-15 Quad Drive Subwoofers
    Sony PS3
    Squeezebox Touch

    Polk Atrium 7s on the patio just to keep my foot in the door.
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  • mwelna
    mwelna Posts: 24
    edited May 2008
    thanks!!
    I couldn't find banding in zebrawood so all of the pieces came from a 2' x 8' piece of paperbacked veneer. I started on the front with strips of veneer that i cut off the oversized pieces from the sides, bottom, and top. I used a utility knife to make cuts prior to application and a veneer edge trimmer that i bought at a wood working shop to trim off the excess after application. The hardest part was the "lower lip" that the grill sits above. I wasn't sure if i would be able to successfully veneer this piece or not and thought that i might have to recreate it out of a solid piece of wood, but in the end with the iron an the steam setting I was able to veneer the lip and it turned out pretty nice. (I used a heat activated veneering glue that made positioning easier and basically ironed the veneer on). The finish is 8 layers of a semi-gloss tung oil........
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  • mwelna
    mwelna Posts: 24
    edited May 2008
    Yeh...........swiss army. A prior owner took it upon themself to put a sticker on one of the drivers?? Hard to know what some people are thinking....
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  • Face
    Face Posts: 14,340
    edited May 2008
    Nice job!
    "He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And when you gaze long into an abyss the abyss also gazes into you." Friedrich Nietzsche
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  • engtaz
    engtaz Posts: 7,664
    edited May 2008
    Very nice job. Well done.

    engtaz
    engtaz

    I love how music can brighten up a bad day.
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited May 2008
    All this veneering in the forum lately is too cool. What a great way to make vintage speakers look brand new.
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  • dorokusai
    dorokusai Posts: 25,577
    edited May 2008
    Excellent work.
    CTC BBQ Amplifier, Sonic Frontiers Line3 Pre-Amplifier and Wadia 581 SACD player. Speakers? Always changing but for now, Mission Argonauts I picked up for $50 bucks, mint.
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  • steveinaz
    steveinaz Posts: 19,538
    edited May 2008
    Pimp my Polk's; good job man.
    Source: Bluesound Node 2i - Preamp/DAC: Benchmark DAC2 DX - Amp: Parasound Halo A21 - Speakers: MartinLogan Motion 60XTi - Shop Rig: Yamaha A-S501 Integrated - Shop Spkrs: Elac Debut 2.0 B5.2
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  • SolidSqual
    SolidSqual Posts: 5,218
    edited May 2008
    steveinaz wrote: »
    Pimp my Polk's; good job man.

    I think this would be a good idea for a polk contest.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,735
    edited May 2008
    Very nice!
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • zingo
    zingo Posts: 11,258
    edited May 2008
    That looks amazing and good work!
    Jake
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  • Boywonder
    Boywonder Posts: 225
    edited May 2008
    Very nice. I love zebrawood. :p
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  • mwelna
    mwelna Posts: 24
    edited May 2008
    Thanks everyone. I think it was your post, boywonder, where i first read about veneering. Then there was another great step by step veneering post about some Klipsch Heresy's in zebrawood....and i couldn't help but give my CRS's a new suit.
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  • janmike
    janmike Posts: 6,146
    edited May 2008
    Nice job. Well done.
    Michael ;)
    In the beginning, all knowledge was new!
    NORTH of 60°
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  • shadowofnight
    shadowofnight Posts: 2,735
    edited May 2008
    Damn fine job....I've done everything else in woodworking except veneering.

    I have a new sub enclosure @ 9Cu Ft in raw MDF, could I use multiple sheets and get it to LOOK seemless...or would I have to find larger pieces for seemless sides ?

    That is an awesome veneer you picked.
    The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club
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  • BrettT1
    BrettT1 Posts: 560
    edited May 2008
    They look great. Nice job.
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  • dcmeigs
    dcmeigs Posts: 708
    edited May 2008
    Very nice. Congrats. Zebra is a great look!
    The world is full of answers, some are right and some are wrong. - Neil Young
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  • Boywonder
    Boywonder Posts: 225
    edited May 2008
    shadowofnight wrote: »
    Damn fine job....I've done everything else in woodworking except veneering.

    I have a new sub enclosure @ 9Cu Ft in raw MDF, could I use multiple sheets and get it to LOOK seemless...or would I have to find larger pieces for seemless sides ?

    That is an awesome veneer you picked.

    Most veneer at my local hardwoods store comes in 4' x 8' sheets. They'll sell the whole sheet, half the sheet (either 2x8 or 4x4), or a quarter sheet.

    Not all of the insanely exotic stuff comes in full sheets, and I'd be too scared to glue them on based on the $$. Pretty much everything is available in 2' wide sheets.
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  • shadowofnight
    shadowofnight Posts: 2,735
    edited May 2008
    Boywonder wrote: »
    Most veneer at my local hardwoods store comes in 4' x 8' sheets.


    Damn....thanks for the info.....I was just afraid of visible seams. I will check my local stores...if not off to the big city. I did just want a nice Oak to match everything else, but if freaky is avail....sounds good too :)
    The first rule of Fight Club is you don't talk about Fight Club
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  • geoff727
    geoff727 Posts: 546
    edited May 2008
    Those are some classy looking CRS's. Do you all think we should have a sticky that consists of Polks that have had some fancy woodwork, and maybe upgraded crossovers? Something like that? Sal could post some pics of his SRS's, I could repost some pics of my -1C's. Boywonder could post some pics of his 10's, mwelna could put up these CRS's, etc, etc, etc. Kind of as an "ideas and projects" sticky. Just a thought.
    Polk SDA SRS 2
    Polk RTA 15tl
    Polk Monitor 7C
    Polk Lsi9
    Infinity RS-II (modded)
    Infinity RS-IIIa (modded)
    Infinity RS 2.5 x 2
    Magnepan 1.6QR (modded)

    System: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1290711373
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  • geoff727
    geoff727 Posts: 546
    edited May 2008
    I really like that veneer around the bottom lip. Mark, can you post some more?
    Polk SDA SRS 2
    Polk RTA 15tl
    Polk Monitor 7C
    Polk Lsi9
    Infinity RS-II (modded)
    Infinity RS-IIIa (modded)
    Infinity RS 2.5 x 2
    Magnepan 1.6QR (modded)

    System: http://forum.audiogon.com/cgi-bin/fr.pl?vevol&1290711373
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  • dcmeigs
    dcmeigs Posts: 708
    edited May 2008
    Aren't those edge trimmers cool. I think they are essential.

    I was wondering about the vinyl removal. Did you use a heat gun and putty knife? How time consuming was it?
    The world is full of answers, some are right and some are wrong. - Neil Young
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  • mwelna
    mwelna Posts: 24
    edited May 2008
    Edge trimmers are great but work best with super sharp blades......don't be afraid to buy some extras when you get your trimmer. I didn't get extras and went to several hardware stores looking for blades that would work and they didn't have them. Ended up going back to the woodworking store. I didn't worry about matching the corners because my research suggested that with the "heat lock" glue that the veneer would shrink making matching difficult. That wasn't the case in my experience although I did pre iron the veneer (covered with a sheet) to try to preshrink it. I'll take more pics of the "lip" tonight. For that piece i put heavy masking tape over the lip to cut as a pattern, peeled it off after it was cut, taped the pattern to the veneer, and cut around the tape. One piece for the curved front, one piece for the top, and two trapazoidal shaped pieces for the ends. Removing the vinyl was the most tiresome part of the job. I used my hands and a heat gun. With the right amount of heat you can get most of a side off in one piece just pulling. Once it starts tearing you're in for some frustration. It sure was nice getting that ugly vinyl off though. I was thinking maybe leopard print grills...
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  • mwelna
    mwelna Posts: 24
    edited May 2008
    Oh........it took me about 3 beers per speaker to get the vinyl off. I would have been sitting around looking at stereo equipment anyway :)
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  • treitz3
    treitz3 Posts: 19,196
    edited May 2008
    Those look sweet as hell dude! Nice job.
    ~ In search of accurate reproduction of music. Real sound is my reference and while perfection may not be attainable? If I chase it, I might just catch excellence. ~
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  • Mike Reeter
    Mike Reeter Posts: 4,315
    edited May 2008
    Those are breath taking for sure...Beautiful job,I bet they sound as good as they look also.
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,735
    edited May 2008
    I removed the nasty vinyl from my CRS+'s using the same heatgun, hand method when I upgraded them to 4.1TL's. I never did get around to reveneering them. Now, I'm almost inspired to actually put some veneer on my 4.1TL's.........almost.
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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  • ben62670
    ben62670 Posts: 15,969
    edited May 2008
    F1nut wrote: »
    I removed the nasty vinyl from my CRS+'s using the same heatgun, hand method when I upgraded them to 4.1TL's. I never did get around to reveneering them. Now, I'm almost inspired to actually put some veneer on my 4.1TL's.........almost.

    Like a shoe maker who's kids have no shoes:(
    Please. Please contact me a ben62670 @ yahoo.com. Make sure to include who you are, and you are from Polk so I don't delete your email. Also I am now physically unable to work on any projects. If you need help let these guys know. There are many people who will help if you let them know where you are.
    Thanks
    Ben
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  • F1nut
    F1nut Posts: 50,735
    edited May 2008
    Yeah, like that......LOL
    Political Correctness'.........defined

    "A doctrine fostered by a delusional, illogical minority and rabidly promoted by an unscrupulous mainstream media, which holds forth the proposition that it is entirely possible to pick up a t-u-r-d by the clean end."

    President of Club Polk

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