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View Full Version : Careing for a Vintage 50 year old Oxford Speaker... Advice?

TaylorPlayer
10-08-2010, 07:34 AM
My Americana/Magnatone Custom 413 has a 50 year old Oxford (Date code 465-035) from the 35th week of 1960 if I have read how to date speaker codes correctly.

It is installed in the amp and sounds wonderful but never having had a very old speaker like this before, I worry that the long dry winter here in Minnesota will take it's toll on the speaker cone and paper. I always keep my acoustic guitars cased up and humidified to prevent cracking and the other nasty things that can happen to solid wood acoustics during periods of very low humidity. Typically my house falls into the low 20% range for humidity during December, January and February. There is no way to humidify my entrie house and my music room is actually the living room with vaulted ceilings and no door I can close to keep humidity in just that room.

Are there any precautions I should be taking to make sure the speaker lasts another 50 years?
TaylorPlayer
10-10-2010, 08:00 AM
Bump in the hope for some advice or suggestions????
mcknigs
10-10-2010, 08:17 AM
In my years of reading about gear online I can't recall this issue ever coming up. Perhaps this is a sign that it's not something to worry about. Or that there's not much you can do about it. I don't know but I cansee harm in keeping the speaker in a reasonably humidified area. Most advice I've seen regarding preserving old speakers involves not overpowering them or playing them at high volumes.
mcknigs
10-10-2010, 08:19 AM
Should have read "can't see any harm." (Stupid smartphone...)
PeeCee
10-10-2010, 08:40 AM
If it has lasted this long, don't you think it will be OK for a while longer?

Oxfords aren't really that expensive to replace if something happens. I'm sure that in less than a month of trying to keep your house at the right temperature and humidity you would run up a bill of more than the replacement cost.

Crank it and enjoy it. Replace it when it wears out.
TaylorPlayer
10-10-2010, 09:02 AM
In my years of reading about gear online I can't recall this issue ever coming up. Perhaps this is a sign that it's not something to worry about. Or that there's not much you can do about it. I don't know but I cansee harm in keeping the speaker in a reasonably humidified area. Most advice I've seen regarding preserving old speakers involves not overpowering them or playing them at high volumes.

Goes to show that I am likely being anal about nothing.... :bonk

Just have never really owned a "Vintage" speaker before and wondered if there were ways to protect them. I am not a loud distortion type player anyway... mostly classic rock and blues so clean to a bit dirty is as far as that goes and I don't gig, so it will not get cranked very often. Maybe that alone will keep it safe.