Hi,
When I started Wild Burro 15 years ago, my dream was to find something pre-existing that could be easily turned into OB speakers with hand tools. I spent hours looking at Ikea, on Amazon, and at stores that sold cheap kit furniture for some nearly complete OB option, but never found what I was looking for. I hadn't thought about it for years, but as I was sitting not-so-far from the factory on a quick work trip to Minneapolis, I suddenly realized that the fodder for my original vision has been common for a few years now: cornhole boards.
For example: https://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Woodie-Tournament-Cornhole-All-Wood/dp/B01K27PX0C/ (I have no experience with any particular model.) So many choices for graphics! And I bet free used cornhole boards are not difficult to find in most locales.
The standard 6" cornhole hole isn't big enough, but a few minutes with any number of cutting tool variations should do the job. I bet the persistent could accomplish the task with a $10 jab or compass saw. The world is awash in jig saws, 1/8" rotary saws (Rotozips), and small sawzall options, many under $50. If you don't mind destroying the front bushing, the $17 Harbor Freight corded drill with a 1/8" rotozip bit might last long enough to cut two holes and then drill the screw holes (go easy with the lateral force).
24" is not wide enough to get as much bass as you can get out of a Betsy but it is wider than some commercial OBs that gained popularity in the meantime. You could extend them any number of super easy and affordable ways, maybe with options based on stiff insulation foam cut with whatever you used to make the hole, pre-cut panels from Home Depot, or whatever else. You could probably play around with the box the cornhole boards likely come in to figure out how big you want the wing(s) to be.
When Wildburro started, many of us were goofing with DIY low power tube amps that were possible to build with less space and tools than it takes to assemble a speaker. My hope was to give us a way to listen to those amps. Now, though, many are playing with super cheap imported tube amps, meaning there might be even more folks looking for simple, affordable speaker options. Even though there are so many pre-built options for speakers, you can't have efficiency without size and for speaker cabinets, size means cost. So, at least from what I've seen, our speaker options remain excessively limited.
If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Paul
When I started Wild Burro 15 years ago, my dream was to find something pre-existing that could be easily turned into OB speakers with hand tools. I spent hours looking at Ikea, on Amazon, and at stores that sold cheap kit furniture for some nearly complete OB option, but never found what I was looking for. I hadn't thought about it for years, but as I was sitting not-so-far from the factory on a quick work trip to Minneapolis, I suddenly realized that the fodder for my original vision has been common for a few years now: cornhole boards.
For example: https://www.amazon.com/Triumph-Woodie-Tournament-Cornhole-All-Wood/dp/B01K27PX0C/ (I have no experience with any particular model.) So many choices for graphics! And I bet free used cornhole boards are not difficult to find in most locales.
The standard 6" cornhole hole isn't big enough, but a few minutes with any number of cutting tool variations should do the job. I bet the persistent could accomplish the task with a $10 jab or compass saw. The world is awash in jig saws, 1/8" rotary saws (Rotozips), and small sawzall options, many under $50. If you don't mind destroying the front bushing, the $17 Harbor Freight corded drill with a 1/8" rotozip bit might last long enough to cut two holes and then drill the screw holes (go easy with the lateral force).
24" is not wide enough to get as much bass as you can get out of a Betsy but it is wider than some commercial OBs that gained popularity in the meantime. You could extend them any number of super easy and affordable ways, maybe with options based on stiff insulation foam cut with whatever you used to make the hole, pre-cut panels from Home Depot, or whatever else. You could probably play around with the box the cornhole boards likely come in to figure out how big you want the wing(s) to be.
When Wildburro started, many of us were goofing with DIY low power tube amps that were possible to build with less space and tools than it takes to assemble a speaker. My hope was to give us a way to listen to those amps. Now, though, many are playing with super cheap imported tube amps, meaning there might be even more folks looking for simple, affordable speaker options. Even though there are so many pre-built options for speakers, you can't have efficiency without size and for speaker cabinets, size means cost. So, at least from what I've seen, our speaker options remain excessively limited.
If you try it, let us know how it goes!
Paul
