[Scott F.]

Well, its official, my barn (converted into a wood shop) is up and running 

Mark stopped by today to build a few new parts for his Sonograph (Conrad Johnson/Sota) turntable. He wanted to build a new armboard and since he brought it with him, we cut out and built a new bottom cover for the table out of 3/4 MDF.

Earlier this week I stopped by St Louis Hardwoods (down by Steve's house) and picked up a couple of different sections of wood. First was some standard Walnut and the next is some ultra cool Bloodwood.

Heres a pic of the two new armboards in the rough next to his stock MDF armboard.



Heres Mark rounding the corners on the Walnut armboard.



Heres a pic or two of the grain of the Bloodwood


This stuff is absolutely beautiful when you see it up close. Although we didn't finish sand it here, I doubt it will need much (if any) grain filler. The Bloodwood is super dense and should make for a great armboard. Needless to say, I picked up enough to make the Opera a new armboard too.


Heres a pic of the finished armboard next to Marks newest toy.....


...the Yamamoto HA-02 headphone amp.

This little thing sounds absolutely gorgeous. 



Heres a quick pic or two of what I'm doing to my Altec A7's

Not sure if anybody wrapped on the 511 horns when they we sitting out but if you did, they rang like a bitch. So what I decided to do was build a box around them and then fill them with sand to dampen them.




Since this is only a temporary housing for the horns, I decided not to spend a lot of time on the enclosures, so they are a little rough and simple. Mark mentioned when he saw them, that they looked like an old Atwater Kent radio. For now, I'll probably leave them with just the stain and finish they have, saving my efforts for the integrated horn and woofer cabinets I've got on the drafting board.




Heres a pic of most of the shop. I snapped a couple of pics and stitched them together to make a wide angle view.


If anybody has a wood project they want to tackle, from something small like amp cases, to something big like speaker cabinets, you are more than welcome to come out and give it a go. I've got most everything you would need for nearly any project (short of a vacuum press for veneers).

Sometime this fall I'll have my finishing booth (for staining) completed. I need to move my air compressor up to the barn and get the air lines run.

[Blackmore]

Scott's wood shop is great.  The best part is that he does all the real work, then takes a picture of me sanding the corners off the arm board and implies that I actually did the work. Thanks Scott   It was a great day; stereo, woodworking, Ticonals, Teresonics, Yamamoto, Consonance and no trips to the emergency room. That has got to be a first. 

[bmed]

Looks great guys.

Hey Blackmore,  you wouldn't mind building me up a pair of Edgarhorns if I get you the plans, would ya; now that you're a pro?
My wife wants me to start using headphones after curfew, I was going to build a Bottlehead SEX amp, but that Yamamoto is a stunner.  What 'phones are you using?

Cheers,
Brad

[Blackmore]

I'm using Sony MDR-F1 headphones for now.  Pretty nice.  Scott's Grado 80 sounded great, my Grado 60s sound bad, and my old Koss 4AA sound pretty groovy. The headphones I'm going to order are the Audio Technica ATH-1000 that Srajan likes and used with his review of the Yamamotos. Check out the review at 6moons.  It also has speaker outputs so you could drive some computer speakers for your laptop, too.  Good to hear from you Brad!!!!

[JohnR]

Well, its official, my barn (converted into a wood shop) is up and running 

Wow, that's awesome!

[bpape]

Looks like a sweet place Scott.  Next time I get out there I'd like to take the tour.

Bryan

[Sarmck]

Scott,

First, I missed the day you had Wayne from Bolder over. Looks as though everyone had a great evening listening to some fantastic new gear and sounds.  Now I might just HAVE TO upgrade my Ultimate Mk II PS to the next incarnation.   aa   I was distracted that afternoon/evening by doing some minor stuff like loading up the truck to move to my new digs. 

Second, the wood shop looks like a fine place to hang out and git-er-done with whatever projects might arise...like...I don't know...let's say a pair of BLH cabinets for some FE206ESR drivers. Some of my visits back home may be to your wood shop, long as my lovely misses doesn't mind (read that as find out).  Blackmore may have a career in tool shop modeling as well as music too.    

By the way, there's an Ikea store located less than an hour from where I live now but I can't get everything I want in the trunk of my car.

Blackmore,

What else is in the Yammie future for you?   

Have fun guys,
Ron

[Scott F.]

Thanks guys,

When we bought our house complete with a barn and fenced area, we loved the idea of having horses, especially when the kids were growing up. After a few years, we discovered that the equestrian life wasn't for us The horses were fun but they were loads of work. Not to mention, if you don't ride them often enough, you'll never get a saddle on them much less a bit in their mouth.

We had an Appaloosa, a Tennessee Walker and a miniature horse for the kids (Shetland ponies can be really mean). The Walker was like having a really big dog. She had a great personality. I'd be up watering, feeding or cleaning and she'd sneak up behind me and launch me up in the air. Not too high but just enough to surprise the hell out of you. When you land and turn around and act like you we going after her, she'd haunch down and bob back and forth like a dog hanging onto a stick you just tossed. It always ended up like a game of tag except this person had four legs and weighed 1000 pounds.

Eventually, getting so busy at work, we didn't have a chance to ride them as often as they needed. In turn, I couldn't get a bit into their mouths. Kitty (the Appaloosa) would dig her nose in the ground. When I'd try to lift her head she'd (purposely) step all over my feet. Eventually I gave up and got rid of them. After the horses, the barn sat dormant just being used to store junk and the occasional classic car.

This summer I finally decided to recapture the barn because it was 1750sf of wasted space. Where the old stalls stood, there was still dirt so I poured concrete to finish the floor. The old Masonite siding and quite a few base plates and studs were rotted by water infiltration so me and a couple of friends resided it with Hardie Board and fixed the structure. Laura and I installed a new (used) insulated garage door. I still need to build the stairs and landing to replace the ships ladder that goes up into the full 9' hay loft. When it cools down some more, I'll get up there and start painting the siding and then trimming the window and door openings with rough sawn cedar.

A couple of weeks ago I trenched and buried conduit that will feed a new 100amp electrical panel for the shop. I still need to pull in and terminate the service. After that, I need to start getting a bunch more outlets installed. Then I'll get some proper heating and cooling installed so I can work up there in extreme temps.

We were just lucky when it came to our choice in houses 20+ years ago. We bought far enough out of the 'big city' that the home and acreage prices were less than half what the city living was bringing. After all this time, civilization is finally starting to encroach on our property. Luckily, the homes that are coming our direction are 'high end' dwellings which only helps props up our home value.

[drummerwill]

 Nice "Shop" Scott,  ..... When are you gonna start turning some Wood Horns ?

   Have fun!
  Willie

[Scott F.]

Willie,

I'd love to but my lathe bed only handles about 12" diameter stock. Unfortunately that only gets me down to about 1000Hz. If I were to upgrade my lathe I could get one to handle 36" diameter stock, then we'd be cookin' with Crisco 

[electricbear]

Neat workshop. You might want to install a cot in the corner for those evenings when you've had one too many Obans 

[MerRev]

looks very nice Scott and considerably more complete than I would have guessed.   

Hmmm, maybe I can join you and Ron when you start working on a BLH for the 206ES's. 
                    Merrev

[Scott F.]

That BLH is a really fun little speaker. It sounds WAY better than you might expect. Who knows, maybe if we build one, I can seduce you in to the TRUE darkside of tubes.......SET's 

Tim, believe it or not, I've got a liquor cabinet up there.....now I just need and ice maker and water to the building.... 

[bpape]

Laura will never see you then....

I'm assuming you're going to leave the horns up there...

Bryan

[Scott F.]

Laura will never see you then....

No, but she'll certainly hear me....but then again, so will half of Franklin County 

I'm assuming you're going to leave the horns up there...

Nope, they are destined for the Redrum 

Like I told Deadfish earlier this evening, I've twelve watts in there. If I don't implode from the sound, I'll at least crack the foundation 

[bpape]

Good god Scott    12 watts on those horns in THAT room??????

You are a glutton.

Bryan

[Bob in St. Louis]

And to think all this time I thought "that's just an ol barn up there".  aa
Very nice Scott, very nice indeed. 

Bob

[Blackmore]

Here's the sonographe waiting for the finished SME armboard to be drilled and lacquered.  This is the walnut board.

[Scott F.]

Very nice 

The Sonograph took the die really well.

I read somewhere that you can sand that Bloodwood to a near glass finish if you use progressively finer and finer sandpapers. Sounds like a lot of work but I might try it when I get to mine.

[jcrane]

Maybe it is time to try a DIY Open Baffle project.......

Nice setup Scott - I am a little jealous!

jamie