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Oh no! My Grado HF-2s falling apart - Page 5

post #61 of 67
10/24/09 at 9:33pm
Talk about the luck of the draw, I have #356 here, and been holding up fine so far.
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post #62 of 67
10/31/09 at 10:40am
Quote:
Originally Posted by tomb View Post
Plastic is still not in favor for musical instruments.
Yeah but there's a huge difference between having a solidbody electric guitar, for example, where the entire slab of wood that is the body and also the wooden neck and fingerboard are what vibrate to create the tone. That's not the case with a headphone - the driver vibrates, but the housing? not so much. If it did, it would create some pretty unusual resonance effects and ruin the sound.

Play unplugged a solid mahogany body guitar and compare with a mahogany body guitar with maple top (like a Les Paul), or with an alder or ash body guitar, and you will hear the dramatic difference in tone. Now listen to the same model headphone having different woody cups, and you will notice a much subtler difference, or none at all. I think the whole wood thing is over-rated.
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post #63 of 67
10/31/09 at 12:33pm
That is obviously real wood. If you have ever worked with wood before you'd know that.

However, the positioning of the grain is not ideal for such a thin lip. I would have turned the piece of wood 90 degrees so that the grain goes sideways across the headphone. Though, there may be limitations of being able to lathe with different grain directions.
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post #64 of 67
10/31/09 at 12:47pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ozric View Post
Yeah but there's a huge difference between having a solidbody electric guitar, for example, where the entire slab of wood that is the body and also the wooden neck and fingerboard are what vibrate to create the tone. That's not the case with a headphone - the driver vibrates, but the housing? not so much. If it did, it would create some pretty unusual resonance effects and ruin the sound.

Play unplugged a solid mahogany body guitar and compare with a mahogany body guitar with maple top (like a Les Paul), or with an alder or ash body guitar, and you will hear the dramatic difference in tone. Now listen to the same model headphone having different woody cups, and you will notice a much subtler difference, or none at all. I think the whole wood thing is over-rated.
+1

In regards to the OP's post, don't forget that Grado uses some kind of conditioning process on their wood (presumably to decrease resonance) that might change its properties. To me, this looks like a defect in the wood itself... so, send them in for repair end stop complaining as mutiple others have mentioned.
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post #65 of 67
11/3/09 at 1:08pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by sampson_smith View Post
But, for the majority of his best works (The Shape of Jazz to Come, Free Jazz, Live in Stockholm Vol. 1 & 2, IMHO), he used the plastic sax. I'd say it was part of his signature, sounds unique to this day, and (despite being purchased because he could not afford a metal one at the time, right after his first brass sax was destroyed by an angry mob) was eventually coveted then embraced by him. That said, Coleman is awesome, but I think Eric Dolphy is a bit better! Especially on HF-2's!
Don't forget that Charlie Parker also played on one of these horns, a Grafton.

The acrylic plastic of these was very frail and they cracked rather easily. Many could be picked up used for cheap, but as you'll find in reading through here, Parker's personal horn went for nigh upon 100,000 pounds.

I think I'll stick with my 1945 silverplated Conn 6M-VIII.

I also think I'll go check my HF-2s.

**BRENT**
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post #66 of 67
11/3/09 at 1:17pm
Thanks for the info., MD! I had no idea that Bird also used a plastic horn that was also prone to falling apart. Interesting!
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post #67 of 67
11/3/09 at 3:33pm
Sorry to hear!
For some reason it does no surprise me though. Seeing how Grado care about quality control...
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