Twin Reverb damage-can it be fixed?

Slothrop98: I bought a 72 Twin from Guitar Center many years ago which the cabined and baffle board ware broken into like 8 pieces. First I would try to get a big price reduction form the seller to accommodate the damage. I bought my 72 for $ 200.00 out the door.

I was new at rebuilding amps and reasonable with light carpentry. So I took on the challenge and basically pulled out the chassis and speakers, then gently pull back the existing tolex, further pulled apart the cabinet, since if it was glued, it was pretty much not doing anything anymore and removed the broken 3/4 inch baffle board. Then I pieced the baffle board back together with glue and wood filler. What I did to hold all the pieces together is after gluing, I screwed the pieces to a piece of plywood to work as a clamp. After everything dried, I had a pretty decent looking original baffle, filled in some screw holes and sprayed flat black. I reinstalled the baffle board and reassembled the cabinet. Whit I did to reassemble the cabinet is not only glue back the butt joints, pulled out the crappy staples holding the sides together, drilled pilot holes every 1.5 inches and screwed it back together with 2.5 inch trim screws. The cabinet is very solid now, even better than before. I bought Loctite spray adhesive and put the tolex back on. Also if you notice under the grill material 2 shiny rectangles, that is where I epoxied 4 pieces of sheet metal to hold the broken grill together. After I reassembled everything, I realized I forgot to paint the sheet metal black so it wouldn't show. i decided to leave well enough alone at this point

Then, I read a lot and listened to good advice from people like Wally and other members at the old FDP forum. I learned how to swap out some old caps and out of spec resistors rebuilt the amplifier. Uncle Doug has some good videos on YouTube Also.

Its a great hobby to learn, besides being a musician. It does make having this as a hobby much more affordable. Also, I bought a black face Twin Faceplate, kept the original grill and removed the master volume and made it an AB763.

 

How well was it packed? Was it double boxed?

 

it would not matter, imho, if the amp were double boxed or not. It was dropped and the weight of the chassis headed downward broke the top of the cab away from the sides. Had it been packed upside down and maintained in that orientation during handling...big IF, right?....the drop would not have caused this king of damage because the weight of the chassis would have not been headed toward the bottom of the cab when it met the floor/ground.

 

I'm curious how Fender ships them from the factory these days.

I recently bought one but bought it local. Man I can't imagine that thing in a box....but obviously they get them to retailers and even customers that way new.

 

I shipped a Mesa Boogie Lonestar (72 pounds) all the way across the country last year with no damage. Double boxed, loads of packing material. I consider myself lucky.

 

I once shipped a full stack Marshall to a customer from Connecticut to Chicago. It took me a few days to build the boxes. I used very heavy cardboard, and 1 inch exterior grade styrofoam out of 4x8 sheets cut to size to fit around the amp and cabinets. It was very costly, but worth it. According to the customer all 3 pieces arrived undamaged.

 

For a big giant amp like a twin, the best way is to remove the chassis and send it separately from the cabinet. That’s the only way I would consider shipping something like that. Your seller messed up.

 

Big , Giant Amp .....Like a Twin Reverb ? Lol.....

I have fixed worse than that , not that big a deal , if it is allowed to look roadworn afterwards as well.
If there are other issues , send it back...

 

Yep, can't count how many times I've had to give "no really, local pickup only" responses to potential Reverb buyers for amps larger than a Champ. Let's see, 50 pound chassis and speaker inside a big, not really braced, possibly old and dry, butt-jointed wood/particle or maybe MDF cabinet. Doesn't matter how well I pack the thing, chances are too high that it won't work out. Nevermind cost of freight, materials and my time might realistically be around $200 and the same people who don't see the ^above often expect that it costs $50 to ship anything across the country. What's really incredible is that I try to deliver that message politely and it still comes back as argument sometimes. As though I owe a potential buyer my property on their terms.

With that said, I still see worn-but-healthy SF twins (MV or no) going for $600 all the time locally. I think they're so big and impractical for the hobbyist that value is actually aligned with utility, that is I think "collector value" is not really in play for these yet. People are asking more for similar vintage Champs now, which is insane, but another thing really. If there's a solution available that gets you a working Twin in a nice new pine cab, I'd call that a win.

 

The option for a new cab might present a situation whereby the new cab would be a totally custom cab because that amp is narrower than the BF cab by 3/8”. People build BF cabs, but the SF cabs changed depth in 1968 from 10 1/2” to 9 3/4”. Then, in 1972 the dimensions ch aged again. The depth went back to 10 1/2” and the width went from 26 3/8” to 26”. This is taken from the 5aegue and Sprung book.
BF....20 1/4”H x 26 3/8”W x 10 1/2”D.
1968 SF.....20 1/4” x 26 3/8} x 9 3/4”
1972 through 1981....20” x 26” x 10 1/2”.
A good cabinet build could handle the deal, but there might be an up charge???

 

Holy crap, that's a mess, and glad that's not a lesson I had to learn on my own. For a long time I kept my eyes open for the right Twin or Showman to rebuild as a head-and-inefficient cab, ideally to get the sound in a slightly more practical way. The little Blackvibe Micro I recently built scratches that itch at home and for my purposes a DR is close enough elsewhere. So I've finally put that project out of mind.

I would also hope a reputable builder knows exactly what to do if "76 Twin" etc. is specified, but probably wouldn't bet money on it.