Wow, these threads move back quickly.
Anyway, decided to give a little more background info here, as there seem to be few people interested in these wooden cups.
Roshan is my co-worker and friend who occasionally does some woodworking for his private use (pieces of furniture, lamp posts, small bowls etc).
When I bought my D2000, and already had a beautiful Darths made from super-exotic snakewood, from day one I was contemplating to woody them. Larry at Headphile did one D2000, I liked it, but then he'd decided not to offer woodied Denons anymore.
And so I opened mine and discussed with Roshan whether he would be able to turn couple of cups. There are a couple of challenging parts inside the cups, very thin and rather tall ridge that commands use of well seasoned hardwood. If wood warps a little or develops a crack, it's all gone down the drain.
But we've decided to give it a try, bought some nice looking she-oak piece on eBay and I've posted the final result on the forum. (search for D2500 in titles).
At the same time I've recabled them with D5000 cable that markl sold me.
The thread generated some interest, and we decided to make two more pairs. Museman and Musicman59 (Jose) were first to ask.
Musemans' pair was relatively easy, he wanted some dark wood and so we sourced two pieces of wenge from local furniture maker and did it. Photos are on first page of this thread. It took some time though, because in parallel Roshan was also working on Jose's pair.
Now this where story gets twisted.
Jose wanted specific wood - koa. We couldn't source any good looking koa locally or ebay, so Jose bought one from Hawaii and shipped it to us. Nice looking wood. But the wood wasn't seasoned enough and when rough turned to cylinder shape it developed several deep cracks and also got twisted.
That wasn't good news for everyone involved, luckily Jose took it in his stride and bought and shipped amboyna burl block. These things are not cheap mind you.
And here comes the heart attack situation
The pricks in Australian Customs and Quarantine
drilled three deep holes in three different faces of the block! Whoa, how's that? Can you imagine what I felt?
There was enough wood left to make one cup, but the second one required special cut to avoid these friggin' holes. For a moment it looked like another nogo, but luckily Roshan managed somehow to finish them and also give them extra deep and gloss finish.
That also explains why the right cup has different pattern coming from the same piece of wood.
Anyway that's the story, as for now we are reluctant to take any orders until we sort out wood supply, what kind etc. This is all a weekend job, I cannot ask Roshan to lock himself in the garage for weeks, he has young family to look after as well.
Cheers,
Lad
