[Hallicrafters] R-8T & R-12T Speaker.

[GARDGORE at aol.com]

I have fixed these before Bill, The front escutcheon is indeed plywood 
painted semigloss black. They are often found coming apart... from storage in a damp 
place I guess. Anyway, get some clamps and two good flat pieces of wood large 
enough to clamp the grille escutcheon between and glue the parts back 
together with yellow woodworkers glue. Be sure to put a sheet of waxed paper over 
each side of the escutcheon so it won't be glued to the wood blocks. When set up 
it will be nice and flat and fit back in place on your speaker cabinet again. 
For a nice job use wood filler to correct any voids in the surface and spend a 
little time hand sanding to get a nice surface to paint. You should also use 
a wood surface sanding sealer to seal the grain so it won't soak up the paint 
resulting in grain show through. When painted in this fashion it will resemble 
a piece of Bakelite which is how a good original looked. 
The grille cloth was an off-white. I have looked around for something close 
but have not been successful. When an incorrect cloth is used for a replacement 
they just don't look right in my opinion. I usually just try to clean and 
repair the original if possible. If yours is missing or in poor shape then you 
will have to find something you can live with.

Good luck, 
Greg Gore; WA1KBQ