[NewEinstein]

I am also interested in wooden faceplates. Will they be "natural" or will they get a lacquer finish?

How robust are the surfaces on wood faceplates? Will they easily get scratched?

Thanks

 

[Deezel177]

Owners of wood faceplates, could you post a picture please?

I need inspiration!

Here's a link to Custom Art's gallery on Facebook; it's filled with examples: https://www.facebook.com/pg/thecustomart/photos/?ref=page_internal

AFAIK the wood faceplates will get a lacquer finish, which means they'll be about as durable as any other custom material, or even plain acrylic/silicone. I don't know if you can specially request Piotr to not lacquer the faceplate; that's a question only he can answer.

 

[piotrus-g]

Faceplates are lacquered and we can't make IEMs with raw faceplate on it.
As for examples - facebook gallery

 

[Navier]

sadly the examples don't show all the wooden faceplates, only 3 or 4 most of them are repeated (maple)... that's why I am asking

 

[NewEinstein]

Faceplates are lacquered and we can't make IEMs with raw faceplate on it.
As for examples - facebook gallery

I actually prefer it that way ... I think a raw wood surface would be much to sensitive and would get scatched too easily

much better to have a seamless hard acrylic surface

 

[Deezel177]

So, I was doing my daily browse of my favorite audio-related websites, one of them being TheHeadphoneList, and I stumbled upon this cheeky little ad...

@piotrus-g, what in the world are these faceplates and why aren't they on my FIBAE 2's right now?!

All jokes aside, they do look stunning, so whether this is a new option or a custom material that a customer sent over, I'll be open (and excited) to explore more... exotic options for my next purchase from you guys

 

[Wyville]

Those do indeed look very nice! Great to see that Piotr is continuing to develop his skills and the options available.

 

[Deezel177]

By the way guys (and this might be slightly off-topic), but if you're interested in purchasing custom materials for companies like Custom Art to use as faceplate materials, the best places I've found have been boutique knife scale dealers. They're used mostly to make knife handles but they're pretty much the perfect thickness and width to make faceplates out of, and the added length allows you to use the material multiple times if you wish to. Most of the materials there are also composed of stabilised wood, acrylic, etc., which means it's very likely they're similar to materials CIEM companies use in their repertoire anyway, and it means it's less likely for the companies to have difficulty working with them as well.

Below are my favourite sites:
exoticknifehandles.com
usaknifemaker.com
woodcraft.com
beyondwoodproducts.com
synthetic-opal.net
As well as some sold on etsy.com; just search "Stabilised Wood"

With the above resources, you can pretty much build a Wizard-style IEM with any company. All they have to do is accept custom materials, and you're all good to go!

 

[piotrus-g]

So, I was doing my daily browse of my favorite audio-related websites, one of them being TheHeadphoneList, and I stumbled upon this cheeky little ad...



@piotrus-g, what in the world are these faceplates and why aren't they on my FIBAE 2's right now?!

All jokes aside, they do look stunning, so whether this is a new option or a custom material that a customer sent over, I'll be open (and excited) to explore more... exotic options for my next purchase from you guys

Aaaah nice to see someone noticing the banner on the first day it's up!

Those faceplates are Amboyna Gold with half red half clear coating, just a fun thing we tried out for one of our reviewers

 

[Deezel177]

Aaaah nice to see someone noticing the banner on the first day it's up!

Those faceplates are Amboyna Gold with half red half clear coating, just a fun thing we tried out for one of our reviewers

Oh, so it's not a custom material, but a different method of lacquer/painting the material? If so, that's great! Certainly a method of customisation I've never seen before.

 

[piotrus-g]

Oh, so it's not a custom material, but a different method of lacquer/painting the material? If so, that's great! Certainly a method of customisation I've never seen before.

Yeah it's one type of wood with two different colors on it, we did it before with some other custom build (orange+purple swirl IEM you can find in our gallery on our website).

 

[ranfan]

Wow that looks very nice

 

[lyncks]

Will probably be getting FIBAE 2. Impressions are there and all is good.

Wanted to emphasize again that this was the best "buying" experience I've ever had. Piotr is just amazing and sometimes I even annoy myself with so many questions.

Great stuff!

 

[NewEinstein]

I just got the news that my ear impressions arrived. Despite my very narrow ear canal they will try to make me an acrylic FIBAE2 ... now I just need to finalize the design and actually place the order

Soon I will (hopefully) have the first IEMs that actually fit me

===========

EDIT: Just placed the official order ...
black transparent with canals in blue and red, faceplates in black icewood with silver inverted logo, recessed 2-pin sockets, black cable

(simulated image from the CustomArt configuration tool)

 

[davidcotton]

I just got the news that my ear impressions arrived. Despite my very narrow ear canal they will try to make me an acrylic FIBAE2 ... now I just need to finalize the design and actually place the order

Soon I will (hopefully) have the first IEMs that actually fit me

As someone who has been there, done that and bought the t-shirt I wish you the very best of luck with it. I'm actually waiting on a pair of Music two's to come back in universal form from silicone (sweat issues amongst others). Nothing fancy on the design, black faceplates, blue left shell and red right shell.