Bill Fitzmaurice?

[Killer Fridge]

Hey all - Me and my drummer friend got bored today, and decided "Why not build our own bass cabinet" just for the sake of a decent project for the summer.

Whilst on the search for some design ideas, I came across Bill Fitzmaurice

http://www.billfitzmaurice.com/

After looking on the site, I remember Edge saying something about them, but I cant remember what.

Either way, Ive bought a few of the plans, and we intend to make them over the summer - hard or not!

So, has anyone had any experience with them? What might we be expecting the finished product to be like (seeing as we are getting the wood free, and I will be buying the Eminence drivers)?

The order of the build will go like this

Omni 10
Tuba 24
DR250
SLA

(the SLA will be my drummers, seeing as he wont be getting anything out of it, apart from fun, so its only fair that he gets something out of it too!).

Anyone had any experience with BF designed cabinets?

[edgebass5]

I have the plans for the Tuba24 and the DR250. I intended to build them last summer but never found the time.

Do you own a table saw? If you don't building anything other than the Omni10 (or Omni 12, Omni 15, etc.) will be VERY difficult. The reason Bill created the Omni series stuff was because of people who didn't have the equipment or couldn't handle the build involved with the Tuba and DR designs.

I've heard a Tuba24/DR250 setup...and...and...wow...simply wow. I've never heard a rig that loud in my life, and keep in mind the entire thing utilized only 2 10" drivers and a pretty impressive tweeter array. The frequency response was incredible as well.

If you have the equipment and can handle the building difficulties these are really a great way to go. Think Schroeder cabinets are loud? These things are even louder. One thing to note: When it comes time to put the finish on the cabs you should definitely look into various forms of roll-on bed liner for truck beds. Its proven to be the most resiliant AND cost effective way to finish these cabs. On top of that its pretty easy to install as well :thumb:

[Killer Fridge]

Yeah, thankfully we have access to a table saw (not sure whos it is, Ive just been assured that we have access to one), so you reckon it shouldnt be all that hard?

I hope not (drummer has built a 2x10 cab from scratch before, so hopefully it shouldnt be too mind taxing, although he doest like curves!)

We intend to build the omni 10, just to get a feel for how is plans are, and to see how hard "3" is on his difficulty factor (as compared to the 9 of the DR250!)

[edgebass5]

Even with the right tools they are extremely difficult to build. If you don't have any prior building experience I wouldn't advise attempting these as your first project.

I've heard some people spending upwards of 50 hours building the DR250's. Just for reference there's more info on these at talkbass, and a ton of info on Bill's own forum (you can link to it from his webpage).

[Killer Fridge]

Awesome - built plenty of smaller things before (ranging from burglar alarms to stupid looking tables) and I trust your advice enough to think you know what youre talking about!

From what ive read of the instructions of the Omni 10 - it seems straightforward enough, so that will certainly be our starting point. The DR250 does look hideously complex (but it was buy 3, get a 4th free, how could I resist!), and the Tuba 24 doesnt look that simple either (although my drummer assures me it is, and that the laberyinth isnt as hard to make as it looks!).

I really cant wait to get started on this (and having a friend who works as a carpenter and can get me some very cheap/free plywood, and if he cant, I can get some cheap/free ply from the quantity surveyors where I work!) We should have plenty of wood to make mistakes with!