Restaining my carver AL-III's

[soniceuphoria]

I have been thinking about restaining my Carver AL-III's recently. They have seen better days cosmetically but are still functioning perfectly. I would like to stain them red but I don't have any clue about what kind of stain would be best for my aplication. The pannels are oak. I would like them to have a glossy look when I'm done with them. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks. Happy Listening.
Greg

 

[Rip Van Woofer]

Minwax makes a combination one step stain and varnish. Forget the name (Polyshades?) but it's commonly available. Trick will be keeping it away from that ribbon element! Do the oak panels come off?

Otherwise, use a stain followed by varnish of the appropriate gloss.

I'd give them a light sanding with fine sandpaper (around 220 grit), tack the dust off with a tackcloth, and finish. Protect the tweeter with tape if you can't remove the wood.

I've only seen pictures of them in audio mag back issues. Very handsome. Do they sound as good as they look?

 

[soniceuphoria]

Thanks for the advice Rip. I went with the Minwax Red Mohagony stain with a high gloss clear coat. I sanded off the old finish and applied 3 coats of the stain and 3 clear coats. They look beautiful. I wish they had a stain that was more red, but I am still happy with the results. The wood pannels do detach from the speakers (after removing 100 screws). These speakers sound as good as they look if not better (and that's saying something). I will post some pics a little later today after the gloss has finished drying and I get them put back together. Happy Listening.
Greg

 

[soniceuphoria]

Here's the pics. They are not the best pictures. I don't think that I did too bad of a job of staining the speakers considering it was my first time staining. Happy Listening.
Greg