out of the closet after 18 years...

[212Mavguy]

Actually, unused for that amount of time and formerly stored in the original box was a Fane AXA 12 alnico 100 watt guitar speaker.  It was ruined by an amp tech before I ever got to use it.  I bought it for my first eBay amp purchase, a problematic, cursed for Ampeg POS engineered design combo Mesa Boogie wannabe called VT-120.  While gluing on the gasket to the front side of the frame for it's original installation he dripped some glue onto the cone's dust cover.  I was wondering why it sounded like something was bouncing back and forth inside the speaker...when I removed the speaker some time later I discovered his screwup and pulled the well cured booger off the dense, fine weave cloth dust cap.  Just the presence of that glue booger on the dust dome caused it to deteriorate and shed particles inside.  This speaker retailed well in excess of 200 bucks new back in early 2000's dollars.  I stuck it in it's original box disgusted.   Discovery was after the tech had gotten fired from the shop.  Not much recourse available, so in the box it went and on a shelf it existed as a f-up to be forgotten.

Earlier this week I was pondering whether I could cut the dust cap open and have a look inside.  Nothing to lose...200 bucks plus to send off for factory recone or take a chance on getting a few hundred hours at least for free...it is a super top end speaker.  So out of it's long  protective cardboard cocoon it came, I strapped on the  illuminated magnifier glasses, grabbed a new single edged razor and sliced a one inch by one inch pair of cuts intersecting at a right angle.  I peeled it back and saw some material that looked like tiny fragments of dust cover on the center pole piece face.  Stuck in my finger and it came out with stuff sticking to it. UGH.  The presently rattling speaker was presently an unusable recone candidate, which would end up over 200 after shipping both ways.   

The Fane's voice coil was a hi temp plastic Kapton material, substantially tougher compared to the hardened paper that most guitar speaker builders use for theirs.  I razor cut the dust cover off to the point that the hole was larger in diameter than the Kapton, almost none of the cloth remained.  Then I put the raw speaker face down on a towel covering the floor carpet.  Plugged it into a 50 watt head and started thrashing it loud and dirty for a few minutes.  Some debris was on the towel. Flipped it over cone up, did the same thing again with things REALLY set loud, (the two conure parrot tone nazis were not amused) after a few minutes there was more debris visible that had landed near the center of the pole piece.  Used loops of white paper soundboard gig label tape to pull up the visibly tiny to microscopic debris from the pole piece and sides of the voice coil former.  Flipped the speaker over, thrashed it, back up, thrashed it. blotted with the sticky tape again, now it's clean, rattle free, (YAAAAAY!)  and after mounting it in a combo cab it surprisingly sounds as full, but warmer overall and a tad more rolled off on the top end sonically than the Tone Tubby ceramic Nashville it replaced.  We are talking warm sweet and gorgeous as adjectives.  Any further particles of the dust cap remnant will get bounced forward, fall and end up as a microscopic pile at the bottom of the cone getting knocked out through the grill cloth as fast as it accumulates.   By the time the VC gap gets too full of crap or dust I will be pushing up daisies.  The grill cloth will work well enough on its own.

The nice thing, besides the fact that the speaker doesn't rattle anymore is how nice it sounds, as well as a friendly response to touch, a tad less snappy than the Tone Tubby it replaced. I had completely forgotten what a sweet set of tones it could do, all over the map.  I'm going to leave it in my RedPlate Blues Machine combo for a while, the warmth it brings is nice and the bottom end is every bit as substantial as the TT ceramic Nashville.  Unlike some alnico 12's Ive owned, the Fane delivers defined crunch where others were blurry.  Yet, the thing I like the best about the Fane is how it sounds in single note work, there is an amazing warm throatiness, particularly.  The overall slightly warmer Fane tone palette has kicked ut the Tone Tubby, but that speaker is waiting to rock in another cabinet of mine.  It won't ever sit like the Fane did.   It's too good sounding.  Think EVM 12L at a third of the weight.  

Winner winner Filet Mignon dinner...

 

[Genericmusic]

? 

[rwinking]

I hope you took some pics along the way. I am having trouble envisioning what you are talking about.

[bolero]

Congrats!!

Those are great speakers. I actually have one somewhere, that I completely forgot about until I read this post! I don't think it's in a closet though. Hmm

[212Mavguy]

rwinking, the dust dome is the bulge in the middle of the speaker cone, can be paper, metal, or cloth.

[rockabilly69]

5 hours ago, 212Mavguy said:

rwinking, the dust dome is the bulge in the middle of the speaker cone, can be paper, metal, or cloth.

congrats on saving the speaker, those are great! 

[rwinking]

Yep, I know the dust dome.... I just wanted pix of the surgery so that I could see what exactly it looked like before during and after...

[212Mavguy]

I apologize.  It appears that i am so technically guitarded that I tend to do the ten thousand words approach on a fairly consistent basis..

[Steiner]

I rather enjoy your stories.  Details always help.  With 3-D effects, sometimes it takes a few extra words.

I feel your pain.  The first electric I bought had a loose speed knob so the tech glued it back on the pot!  At the time I had no idea that the shaft is split and all you have to do is stick a screwdriver in the split...

[Gitfiddler]

@212Mavguy:  I always learn something new from your posts.