[blend]

Just wanted to post up some pics of the headphones I just finished customizing for my girls christmas present. I got a lot of inspiration from others on this site.
 
They're Alessandro MS1's. The headband is made from lambskin that I got from a guy in italy on ebay. The cables are custom sheathed with techflex and I'm just waiting for a viablue plug to finish it off.
 
Anyway here's the pics...starting with my mess lol
 

 
I didn't think to take pics until after I did the embossing but it was done by cutting a the headband shape from very thin sheet plastic and then gluing a layer of 2mm dense felt to that. I then printed off a template for the headband lettering "HBOMB"(her nickname), taped it in place and trimmed out the felt where the letters where. contact cemented the leather in place working it down into the indents and then put the cut out pieces of felt back in place on top of the leather and put a weight on the whole thing for an hour. Here's the end result being test fit...
 

 
Next up was the inner headband padding. I wanted to go for something a little vintage looking to match the MS1's so decided on a ribbed pad. The foam was built up first with three sheets of self adhesive foam from michaels. the top most layer is slightly smaller to give the ribs an angled side when done.
 

 
I then contact cemented the leather and the foam. once it tacked up I worked my way from one end forming the leather to the contours as I went using the back of a butter knife with a straight edge.
 

 
I then trimmed the excess leather leaving enough to wrap over the back edge.
 
Here is the finished pad, cushy and breathable
 

 
 
And last of all the completed shots.
 

 

 
I almost don't want to give them away any more. lol

 

[jdkJake]

Most excellent workmanship!

Is it as comfortable as it looks?

Very, very creative.

 

[schwallman]

Good job. I would be happy with those for a present. I wish I had it in me to be more handy.

 

[BobSaysHi]

Those look fantastic!
 
Do you mind me asking how you got the leather around the headband itself? I remember seeing a thread a long time a ago that says how to do that, I'll have to find it again.
 
Also, you got the letters in the leather by putting weight on it right? Why did you put felt on the templates?
 
Sorry about the questions, after seeing your post, I'm going to be doing something similar. 

 

[blend]

Thanks. They're super comfy, especially compared to the wafer thin vinyl strap they come with.

 

[blend]

Quote:

Those look fantastic!
 
Do you mind me asking how you got the leather around the headband itself? I remember seeing a thread a long time a ago that says how to do that, I'll have to find it again.
 
Also, you got the letters in the leather by putting weight on it right? Why did you put felt on the templates?
 
Sorry about the questions, after seeing your post, I'm going to be doing something similar. 

I actually removed the old headband vinyl completely and discarded it. I then cut two pieces of very thin plastic(about 1/64" or less thick) to create the new headband's shape. i then put them together and wrapped the leather around both. The two layers of plastic were not glued together themselves so this left a sleeve for the metal frame of the old headphone band to slide through.
 
The dense felt was used to cut out the letter shapes to create indentations for the leather to be embossed into. I took the cut out letters and placed them on top of the leather to help force those areas down into the cutouts when the weight was applied. Hope that makes sense.
 
It was all actually not too hard. Just be sure to get nice thin stretchy lambskin leather or it will be impossible to work with.

 

[Ishcabible]

Oh my lord...that looks fantastic. But will the plastic hold up? I would have used aluminum. And how much did it cost to make?

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

Quote:

Those look fantastic!
 
Do you mind me asking how you got the leather around the headband itself? I remember seeing a thread a long time a ago that says how to do that, I'll have to find it again.
 
Also, you got the letters in the leather by putting weight on it right? Why did you put felt on the templates?
 
Sorry about the questions, after seeing your post, I'm going to be doing something similar. 

I actually removed the old headband vinyl completely and discarded it. I then cut two pieces of very thin plastic(about 1/64" or less thick) to create the new headband's shape. i then put them together and wrapped the leather around both. The two layers of plastic were not glued together themselves so this left a sleeve for the metal frame of the old headphone band to slide through.
 
The dense felt was used to cut out the letter shapes to create indentations for the leather to be embossed into. I took the cut out letters and placed them on top of the leather to help force those areas down into the cutouts when the weight was applied. Hope that makes sense.
 
It was all actually not too hard. Just be sure to get nice thin stretchy lambskin leather or it will be impossible to work with.

One last thing, if you don't mind. Who exactly did you buy the leather from on ebay? I see plenty of sellers, but I'm not sure they'll be soft and workable, like yours.

 

[Ishcabible]

Quote:

One last thing, if you don't mind. Who exactly did you buy the leather from on ebay? I see plenty of sellers, but I'm not sure they'll be soft and workable, like yours.

x2. I'm going to try this. If nothing else, they'll make nice pad leather.

 

[BobSaysHi]

Quote:

Those look fantastic!
 
Do you mind me asking how you got the leather around the headband itself? I remember seeing a thread a long time a ago that says how to do that, I'll have to find it again.
 

OK, I found the thread. It's similar, but doesn't look quite as nice as OP's headphones.
 
http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/237221/tutorial-padded-leather-headband-for-grados-with-pics
 
Quote:

Quote:

One last thing, if you don't mind. Who exactly did you buy the leather from on ebay? I see plenty of sellers, but I'm not sure they'll be soft and workable, like yours.

x2. I'm going to try this. If nothing else, they'll make nice pad leather.

I'm going to make two. I figure the first one will look OK, but the second one will look fantastic. 

 

[Ishcabible]

It probably would help to have Grados...haha I can attempt them on my pucks though. And TPs. Words cannot express how awesome they look. Like instead of HBOMB, for the rest of us, putting Head-fi would be pretty beastly.
 
...wow I need to get out more.

 

[blend]

I got the leather from this guy: http://myworld.ebay.ca/rolipel/
 
Get lambskin around 0.6mm in thickness like this: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200401651040&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
 
You should also be able to find leather like this locally wherever you are as well at a leather shop. Just look for garment quality leather and make sure it has a decent amount of stretch to it.

 

[blend]

Quote:

Oh my lord...that looks fantastic. But will the plastic hold up? I would have used aluminum. And how much did it cost to make?

It'll hold up just fine, there's still the narrow steel band in the middle. the plastic is just there to give structure to the width. It's hard to say how much it actually cost, had to buy a lot more stuff than I used and was also getting stuff for other projects at the same time. the foam, felt, and plastic sheet only came to $5 though. So the rest of the cost is really in the leather and glue etc.

 

[drew.haynes]

Absolutely love it. Good to see top notch attention to detail. I appreciate all DIY efforts, but plenty look really botched

 

[Ishcabible]

I got the leather from this guy: http://myworld.ebay.ca/rolipel/
 
Get lambskin around 0.6mm in thickness like this: http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200401651040&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT
 
You should also be able to find leather like this locally wherever you are as well at a leather shop. Just look for garment quality leather and make sure it has a decent amount of stretch to it.

Excellent. I was going to buy from him anyways, thanks!