Two weeks ago a friend of mine sent me a link to an old black plastic toolbox: “Hey, doesn’t this box have about the size as a Suitcase kit?” Indeed! It had! So he bought 2 boxes, I got one. We ordered all ingredients:
- rubber foam (40mm and 20mm)
- XLR connectors
- 20mm plywood
- black PVC
- wire
- transducers
- 1 kOhm resistors
- red felt
- foam glue spray
The parts cost about 50 Euro. Assembling the suitcase takes a couple of hours. It is pure fun and worth every minute. Fortunately I already had an original Suitcase which I restored a couple of years ago. So I already roughly knew what to do…
Cutting the pads
…and the surfaces
assembling the pads
transducers on the backside
the slot for the connectors
those connectors haven’t changed in 4 decades
cutting the foam
soldering pad by pad. The resistors soften the signal
Testing
the bottom layer of foam
The plan
Assembling
almost
adhering the felt onto the top foam layer
cutting
cutiing the trays for the pads
the closed case
Finished, connected and ready to play
and here is a little video demo:
This Replica works very good. I don’t have any crosstalk problems and I am also looking forward to play my VST system. As we still have enough material and as I get the dimensions of Saga’s original Briefcase I am looking forward to clone this one, too.