Model 19 cabinet finish

[RonSSS]

Mine are walnut. But they seem to need something done to the finish.
Oiled maybe?
What works best for this?
They are in near perfect condition, the finish just seems dry.
Ron

[Dylanl]

Mine seem the same way. I just put a coat of WATCO teak oil on them and they look great. You can find this at Lowes or Home Depot. It is made for hard woods like teak & Rosewood but I have had success with it on many finishes.

[Dylanl]

One more thing. When you apply the oil make sure you use a lint free rag or foam brush. If not the wood will grab at the cotton rag and leave small peices of fiber in the wood.

[MikeInNH]

I like a Poly finish. It goes on easy and is EXTREMELY durable. You can get several different finishes High-gloss to a satin finish low luster finish.

[Todd W. White]

Are you wanting to strip them and start over, refinish them without taking off the original stain, or just repair the original finish?

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I'm in the process of refinishing my walnut 19s. Let me tell you, it's a **** of a lot of work. You figure, we've applied oil, wax and everything else to the surface of these things over the years, without cleaning the wood properly in between coats. To do it right, I've learned you need to take it down to the bare wood. Several coats of stripper and then sanding down as far as you dare. I'm guessing the veneer is only 1/32 of an inch thick. The stripper does the best (and safest) work by drawing out all of those years of crud that's penetrated into the veneer. Sand it out silky smooth, and your down to your original wood again. I applied some Formsby gloss tung oil (3 coats), and it brightened the walnut better than I expected. Maybey there's an easier way, I don't know. It's worth the effort though, being that these speakers are becoming so hard to find!..... Mark S. http://img2.uploadimages.net/395561Altec19.jpg

[Dylanl]

So that is what walnut looks like! Once they are done correctly it si amazing how light they become.

Nice job. Every time you look at them you will say it was tough work but well worth it. Keep up the good work.

[RonSSS]

As dave Waibel will tell you, the condition of my 19's is excellent. But to me, the surface seems dry....ie unprotected.
I'm guessing that originally, they were not coated with anything other than stain and oil. And over the years they appear to have dried out. Some changing of the color was aparrant when I took them apart. They actually appear to have darkened a bit.
I'll look into the Homer Formby products and see what I come up with. I really don't want to get into sanding them, re-staining and then coating with some sort of varnish or whatever. I was just hoping to put something on to get them back to original.
Ron

[MikeInNH]

Are you wanting to strip them and start over, refinish them without taking off the original stain...

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif">You don't take off the stain. The stain penetrates the wood. With some sanding and stripping you can remove SOME of the stain, but no way will you be able to remove all of it. Especially a dark stain like Walnut.

By far the easiest thing to do is put a coat of polyuretnain on it. You don't have to do any stripping. Just a little light sanding. Then wipe down with a tack cloth or a damp cloth. Let it dry and then apply the poly. Get the quick drying stuff. It will dry in a couple hours. Put on as many coats as you like (light sanding between coats). It will last for YEARS AND YEARS.

I repaired a friends speakers a few years ago. Some older JBL's (forgot the model numbers). They were about the same size as my Model-15s. This is by far the most drastic thing to do without building new cabinets. The veneer had some chips and there was a hugh wine stain on the top of one of the speakers. And no grills.

First thing I did was strip the cabinets and sand them as best I could. Then filled in the veneer chips and sanding everything smooth again. Then I applied a new veneer OVER the existing veneer. Went with a Maple veneer. With no stain, I just applied several coats of satin polyurathain. Then built new grills. They had a maroon leather sofa. I went to a fabric store and bought some heavy cloth that came close in matching the color of their sofa. Built new frames and added the cloth for new speaker covers. The cloth worked very well. It was trasnparent enough to not muffle the sound. They looked beautiful (if I do say so myself). They sounded pretty good to. And his wife was very pleased. Saved a marriage. The speakers were no longer banashed to the cellar.