[ozshadow]

I have a long background playing guitars and I love acoustics, expecially Martin's. In that time, I've noticed how different wood materials have different tonal characteristics. Has anyone tried to woody their grados with woods besides mahogany ?

I expect indian rosewood would be more bassy and warmer, maple would make grado's insanely bright, brazillian rosewood would be well balanced all together, coco is similar to it, ebony might make them every brighter but faster response.

I'd love to try some with Brazillian Rosewood cups.

 

[grawk]

Try a seach on the word "headphile"...

 

[tyrion]

My HF-1's are modded with Maple by Headphile and they are not bright.

 

[003]

Does they type of wood used really make that much difference? I really would never have thought that, but then again I have never had any woody cans.

 

[ironmics]

I doubt different types of wood would make a difference. I'm assuming you mean the softer and harder would sound different? I doubt any kind of wood would absorb sound waves much differently than any other kind.

 

[ozshadow]

For acoustic guitars, it makes a world of difference. Make one with rosewood/spruce and another entirely of cedar, even if they are the exact same specifications, the sound will be drastically different.

I was just wondering if anyone had noticed the same effects with headphones, expecially Grado's.

 

[Duggeh]

Theres a massive difference in the acoustic principles in each of these cases. For the guiatar, the wood is the resonating material, and part of the sound, in a headphone the resonant material is the driver and so use of different types of wood for the housing makes, compared to guitar construction, absolutely minimal differnce.

 

[DevilDog]

Oh, no, here we go again!

http://www6.head-fi.org/forums/showt...ht=effect+wood

 

[F107plus5]

I got the impression during lots of reading here, that the type of mahogany used was well researched thru experimentation and trial and error to get the proper wood species and design of the cups that sounded best for specifically designed Grado drivers, and that the wood was then treated in specific ways to optimize the SQ to John Grados' standards.

 

[Zanth]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tyrion My HF-1's are modded with Maple by Headphile and they are not bright.

Does that mod include discarding the plastic housing altogether?

 

[incognitoedleon]

I was actually wondering the same thing. If it were true, it would be pretty weird that you'd have burn-in your cups so it would "open up" like with wood in an acoustic guitar.

 

[Xanadu777]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozshadow I have a long background playing guitars and I love acoustics, expecially Martin's. In that time, I've noticed how different wood materials have different tonal characteristics. Has anyone tried to woody their grados with woods besides mahogany ? I expect indian rosewood would be more bassy and warmer, maple would make grado's insanely bright, brazillian rosewood would be well balanced all together, coco is similar to it, ebony might make them every brighter but faster response.

Me too (30+ years), but Gibson's. Three are Rosewood back and sides (probably similar to those Martins you speak of), two are Maple and one Mahogany. Necks are Maple, Mahogany with Rosewood and Ebony fingerboards. Guitars are obviously different than headphones though, somewhat more related is what the driver is mounted into. Mahogany is a good choice since it's fairly cheap, easier to work with and sounds and looks good. A no brainer for Grado. When you get into Grado enclosures, the difference is subtle between wood types, not enough to worry about for most peeps. When you get into closed back, it's less subtle to my ears, but I imagine most wouldn't know the difference unless told what to listen for. Ebony would be the closest to sounding like metal, it's very dense grained.

Speaking of Coco(bolo) including the driver holder on a personal project...

 

[Salt Peanuts]

Dang, Larry, that's a beauty! I do love the look of Cocobolo.

 

[splaz]

Has anyone made them with Australian wood ?

I personally like tassie oak and jarrah.

I found a random picture of a handrail made of both in that order...

edit: can't see the jarrah that well though...

 

[F107plus5]

Quote:

Originally Posted by ozshadow For acoustic guitars, it makes a world of difference. Make one with rosewood/spruce and another entirely of cedar, even if they are the exact same specifications, the sound will be drastically different. I was just wondering if anyone had noticed the same effects with headphones, expecially Grado's.

Ah, guitars.

I had decided that I needed a new guitar to compliment my Gretsch, so I mentioned to a close friend that I was flying to Spain to get a new classical.

"Make one" this flintlock rifle builder suggested.

I liked the tone of redwood for the soundboard over spruce or cedar. Fairly significant differences.

Rosewood for the sides and back and Honduras Mahogany for the neck with ebony fretboard.

Last week I couldn't even say "Luthier" now I are one!!

........actually it was back in '87. The wife is still angry.....she missed her trip to Spain!

And my cans are all plastic