[daba]

Inspired by Headphile.com's woodie collection, I began searching for the exotic wood they use for their headphone remodels.

I ran across this site:
www.woodworkerssource.com

They sell some very nice wood, for example BloodWood, Bubinga, Cocobolo, Ebony Macassar, Maple, Lacewood, et. al.

Anyone skilled in woodwork? I couldn't find any DIY on this, but it looks promising!

 

[Garbz]

Hmmm i'm not that big on spending money on expensive wood. I'd rather see if i can get offcuts from some industrial estate, or simply use some pine with creative lacquer and tinting.

 

[robzy]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Garbz Hmmm i'm not that big on spending money on expensive wood. I'd rather see if i can get offcuts from some industrial estate, or simply use some pine with creative lacquer and tinting.

Even if you did want to use some expensive stuff, probably best to try it out with some cheaper stuff beforehand.

Rob.

 

[skyskraper]

but pine sounds crap. saharan cypress is where it's at in terms of resonant behaviour. then silver plate it and cover it in techflex, OMG the sound would be amazing.

 

[blueworm]

Quote:

Originally Posted by skyskraper but pine sounds crap. saharan cypress is where it's at in terms of resonant behaviour. then silver plate it and cover it in techflex, OMG the sound would be amazing.

Would'nt you have to litz braid it first?

 

[Blooze]

Look around and see if there is a traditional bow maker or knife maker in your area. They usually use all sorts of exotic woods in their handle sections and usually have leftover pieces that they can't use. I know guys that show up at our trad. rendevous' with boxes of the stuff.

 

[chaostic]

You would get in trouble for using a title like that round my parts

I seen some cigar box amps, which is the only other thing cigar box's are good for aside from holding stuff and being a paper weight. Personally, I have a nice Monte Cristo Unwrapped wooden box and a nicer Romeo y Juileta covered wooden box (RyJ are bigger then the Monte's, even though they only size 2 cigar boxes). Two nice cuban cigar boxes just waiting to be given a better purpose

You can try that for your first wooden amp. But then again, outside of the US, cubans probably dont have as high a rep as they do here, but a nice box is a nice box, and alot cheaper then custom made super wood, you know, like free (Or the price of one cigar). Just go to a tobacco shop and ask if they have any empty ones.

 

[jerb]

your going to need a router, carving knives, sandpaper, band-aids, and lots of time.

I'd love to see oyu give it a shot though, look around for local woodworkers in your area. maybe one of them can give you some starting advice.

 

[pabbi1]

While the exotics mentioned by the OP are pretty, most are still questionable sonically. Looking at the wood varieties used by Sony on the R-10 and AT on their woodies, we find two distinct camps.

First, AT uses maple, which is also used in a number of stringed instruments, and hopefully species / specimens with particular resonant properties. This would seem to be a good choice for closed headphones, and most of the hard exotics (cocobola, bubinga, ebony, maple, mesquite) are ok, but harder to work with than other traditional instrument woods (mahogany, walnut). Ebony is VERY expensive ($50 a BF - 12"x12"x1"), and not an exotic looker, and would be VERY heavy, in addition to not looking woody at all. As an example, a Millett I built

http://home.swbell.net/pabbi/mill3.jpg

with an ebony face plate (actually a guitar finger board) doesn't look terribly different from flat black plastic.

Now the R-10 (a Holy Grail to some) uses a less harsh, and less reflective wood, Zelkova, way more rare than the exotics listed. I can go to several wood dealers in the DFW area (or order online) Ebony (and all the exotics listed above), but have yet to find a single wood dealer in the US that has Zelkova, a Japanese Elm variety (though some guys in San Jose are still after a couple of standing trees).

If you want to follow a less reflective, and, I'd argue, a more refined reflected approach, a variety of Elm or Cedar would not only be more refined, and cost less, but is more readily available, and easier to work.

Having been a (hobby) woodworker for over twenty years, try the softer varieties first (Elm, Mahogany, and even Walnut) IF you aren't at least a journeyman woodworker. Depending in how thick you want the woodies to be, mahogany would be $10-15, walnut a couple $ more, and Elm about $15-20.

In fact, this turning block (8"x8"x4.5") of Siberian Elm was purchased off eBay for $19 shipped. It _should_ make 3 Senn 600 ear pieces, once the weather cools a bit.

http://home.swbell.net/pabbi/100_1180.JPG

I agree you will need at least a few saws (flush cut, and coping), a router AND/OR a Dremel, and at least one palm sander with the requisite sand paper grades and 0000 steel wool. A band saw and jointer would help time wise, but aren't a requirement.

Finish is a whole other matter, but nothing less than a hand rubbed oil (tung, Watco, linseed) should be considered if you are going to all the effort to carve these (just a extra days work if done right).

 

[daba]

Thanks for the information. Anyone else?

 

[n_maher]

I'll try to get my friend Ian (en480c4) to chime in here as he's made a couple of sets of DIY Woodie Grados at this point.

Here's a picture of his handiwork:

They were made using a lathe, a large drill press and a lot of sanding IIRC.

As far as wood enclosures go I made this walnut box for an amp that I built (oddly enough) for Ian.

Mostly made use of a table saw, router and sanding equipment to get that done.

Nate

 

[en480c4]

Yeah, the DIY woodying of my HF-1s was a great project.

Here's a pic of mine after refinishing:

A friend gave me some 4x4 Mahogany he had left over from a table he made. I ripped the corners off, making an octagon, then mounted it on a lathe. My uncle took me through the process, and I shaped the wood, bringing it to within a 1/8" of my final dimensions with the chisels. Then using sandpaper while still on the lathe, I brought it the rest of the way down, constantly checking with calipers. The Mahogany was great to work with on the lathe.
I took it off the lathe and used a band saw to cut the individual cups, then drilled the 2 different diameter holes using a drill press. You need a powerful drill because you're drilling into the end-grain of the wood. More sanding was required to fine-tune the fit and provide the profiling I wanted. The hardest part was drilling the 2 holes to mount them and the notch for the cable since the wood was so thin at that point. Great care had to be taken! Then it's many applications of tung oil & lacquer and they're ready to be put back together to be enjoyed.

The non-wood Grados are very easy to take apart, and there are any number of ways to make the woodies. You can do them along the grain axis like I did, or you can cut them from flat pieces. It all depends on the tools you have and the look you're going for.

Best of luck...
Ian

edit:
Here's a pic of the Walnut Millett Nate built with my HF-1:

 

[daba]

Wow those are very nice. How heavy are they?

 

[motherone]

Beautiful job on those woodies, Ian!

 

[en480c4]

Thanks, I was very happy with how they came out.

Quote:

Originally Posted by daba How heavy are they?

Not very. Barely more than with the stock plastic cups.