[Scott F.]

Hiya Guys,

Thought I'd share something I found today. I was wandering through Wally World (AKA Walmart) and found some hefty cutting boards......cheap!

They are Fox Run Craftsmen, End Grain (cutting) Boards. These things are 14"x18" x nearly 2" thick. These things weigh right at 12 lbs. Now, they aren't maple, or at least I doubt they are as they are manufactured in China. They are probably some wood indeginous to the region. Heres a pick or two.






Wally World is selling them for $19.86 each (at least where I'm at). Not too bad considering that Mapleshade Audio is selling theirs (the finished version) for around $250.  

I thought a few of you might be interested

[ScottMayo]

Hiya Guys,...

Wow. A Metheny/Mays fan.

I don't know if I want those boards for my stereo, but my wife might make good use of them in the kitchen, and the price is certainly ok...

Maple, by the way, grows in China. It's a big place with a very varied climate, and many things grow there. So those could be real maple.

38 42 55... 3.

[zybar]

Hiya Guys,

Thought I'd share something I found today. I was wandering through Wally World (AKA Walmart) and found some hefty cutting boards......cheap!

They are Fox Run Craftsmen, End Grain (cutting) Boards. These things are 14"x18" x nearly 2" thick. These things weigh right at 12 lbs. Now, they aren't maple, or at least I doubt they are as they are manufactured in China. They are probably some wood indeginous to the region. Heres a pick or two.

[img]http://www.audiocircle.com ...

Scott,

Nice find, but probably not fair making a comparison to Mapleshade given they aren't maple and they aren't the same size.

FWIW, I tried various woods and boards and they all did sound different - some improved things and some made it worse.

What do you hear the boards doing in your system?

George

[Scott F.]

What do you hear the boards doing in your system?

Well, they aren't broken in yet!  

Actually, I haven't made my mind up yet what (if anything) they sound like. I just moved my front end over on top of my record cabinet. I know without the cutting boards, everything was loose and fuzzy. After installing them, the image got solid again.

I've only installed some soft rubber feet under the boards as of now. I still need to play with my audio points and roller bearings under the different pieces of gear to fine tune everything some more.

You're right about the Mapleshade boards. They are a different size and most probably a different material.....but, at $20 bucks, you can't hardly go wrong.

Know what I might do? I've got an accelerometer. Maybe I'll start making some measurements using test tones and see where it takes me. Who knows, maybe something worthwhile will come out of it.

Wow. A Metheny/Mays fan.

Absolutely  In fact my wife and I (along with Kirch and his wife from the GAS circle) are going to see Pat, Christian McBride, Antonio Sanchez and David Sanchez next month. We haven't missed a show plus I think I've got about 25 or 30 of his 40+ releases. We're huge fans.

Get this, I got to spend aobut 45 minutes with him (one on one) late last spring. One of these days I'll transcribe the interview and get it posted up at ETM. I've got that one plus one with Tommy Shaw and Jay Y of Styx too.

[lonewolfny42]

Scott F. :

Well, they aren't broken in yet!

[/list:u]

Scott, you might try breaking them in first with a nice turkey ...or roast beef. Will speed the process..... [/list:u]
(sorry ...I couldn't resist)[/list:u]

[Scott F.]

Hey Lonewolf, I noticed you were listening to The Way Up. What do you think of it?

[lonewolfny42]

Hey Lonewolf, I noticed you were listening to The Way Up. What do you think of it?

PM is an excellent guitarist....Been two nites listening...different from his past music...recorded well...its really like one long piece. Worth buying...because I like his music.

You must of heard it....what do you think Scott ? [/list:u]
Wanted to mention also....Nonesuch is really putting out some excellent recordings lately...they have come a long way !![/list:u]

[ScottMayo]

Get this, I got to spend aobut 45 minutes with him (one on one) late last spring. One of these days I'll transcribe the interview and get it posted up at ETM.

Very cool! If you run into him again, tell him one of his fans decoded the meaning of the numbers in Witicha. As far as I can tell from Google, no one else has, so I'm taking the secret to the grave.

[Scott F.]

PM is an excellent guitarist....Been two nites listening...different from his past music...recorded well...its really like one long piece. Worth buying...because I like his music.

You must of heard it....what do you think Scott ? [/list:u]
Wanted to mention also....Nonesuch is really putting out some excellent recordings lately...they have come a long way !![/list:u]

Actually I did a review of it back in January. I was lucky enough to get a pre-release copy back in November of last year from his publicist. I personally think it's his best work to date. They cover everything, from traditional Bop rythms (sp) to some of his signature sounds. You know, it really didn't all come together until we saw them perform it live.

Heres a link to the review;
http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/music/0205/folk/metheny.htm

I'll have to surf by the Nonesuch website and checkout some of the music they are offering.

Speaking of music. Be sure to check out Mark Knopfler's Shangra-La release. It's pretty dog-gonned tastey.

[Scott F.]

Very cool! If you run into him again, tell him one of his fans decoded the meaning of the numbers in Witicha. As far as I can tell from Google, no one else has, so I'm taking the secret to the grave.

Hmmmm, I may have to listen to Witicha Falls again. It's been a while.

[Soundideas]

Hiya Guys,

Thought I'd share something I found today. I was wandering through Wally World (AKA Walmart) and found some hefty cutting boards......cheap!

They are Fox Run Craftsmen, End Grain (cutting) Boards. These things are 14"x18" x nearly 2" thick. These things weigh right at 12 lbs. Now, they aren't maple, or at least I doubt they are as they are manufactured in China. They are probably some wood indeginous to the region. Heres a pick or two.

[img]http://www.audiocircle.com ...

Now all you need is to put some Mi-Rollers under that wood. You can get Demo Brass Mi-Rollers for $18 for a set of 3, I have these under all my audio/video gear   http://www.enjoythemusic.com/magazine/equipment/1004/mirollers.htm

[BobM]

Definitely try some kind of rollerblock device under the Maple boards. There's loads of DIY and commercial options.

As for Metheny, yeah I've been a fan for 25+ years now. Here's some PM trivia. Way back in 1980 he played at my college (Lehigh). I was working stage crew and assigned to the back room for the first set. Pat went out with his old, old beat up hollow-body (yes, he really did have a toothbrush holding the strap on) and left a custom Gibson Pat Metheny signature hollow body behind. I picked it up to strum a bit and found some hand written sheet music in the bottom (one fairly simple page). "Blues for Pat" written by Charlie Haden. I was hoping to find some insight into his compositional style (I was taking composition at the time) so I sight read a bit of it and learned the tune. No, nothing written by Pat in the case unfortunately.

Never heard BFP played or recorded though until Joshue Redman came out with "Wish" which had some live tracks at the end. There it is. Not a particularly great song but funny how things have a way of getting around over time.

Enjoy,
Bob

[Scott F.]

BobM,

Great story  So do you still have the old guitar and sheet music?

Heres a pic of one of Pats many guitars (this one is an Ibenez). He auctioned this one off last year at the Christies auction to benefit the Eric Clapton Crossroads Center in Antigua. I was lucky enough to get press passes for the Crossroads Guitar Festival last summer (where I took the pic). Pats guitar ended up selling for almost $15,000.



Over at TNT-Audio (somewhere) theres my coverage of the event. It was one of the best events I've ever attended.

[konut]

Just picked up a pair of the boards at the local Walmart for $19.84ea. to add to my Lowes cheapy speaker stands. See this thread.  http://www.audiocircle.com/index.php?topic=21272  Thanks for the tip!!