[stratocaster]

Quote:

Stratocaster, those look great. All done on the drill press? What size holes did you use to make the cups and gimbals? Those are similar to mine (the cups) but yours have a nice lip on them. I'd love to hear how you made them.

 
Yes, I just have to rely on my drill press,  I don't own a lathe.
The hole saws I use have the following diameter: 46mm and 60mm for the shells, 40mm and 64mm for the lips, 64mm and 73mm for the gimbals.
 

 

[sharkz]

Awesome. Are your cups two pieces (lip and cup)? How thick are each (cup portion and lip portion)? Also how thick are your gimbals?
 
Thanks for the information!

 

[mlantinen]

Nice job on these...especially considering no lathe. Without a lathe it would be very difficult to sand, not to mention other detail work. Also, I don't see any burn marks! Can be tricky with a drill press.

They are BEAUTIFUL 
Quote:
Originally Posted by stratocaster 

Thought I would share some impressions of my new Cocobolo shells with you. After some Zebras I had my drill press rumbling again.
 






 

 

[stratocaster]

Quote:

Awesome. Are your cups two pieces (lip and cup)? How thick are each (cup portion and lip portion)? Also how thick are your gimbals?
 
Thanks for the information!

Wall thickness of shell part: 4mm, wall thickness of lip part 9mm, gimbal thickness 4mm.
Shell height:28mm, lip height 9mm, gimbal width:12mm.
 
 
 

 

[wje]

Last evening, I did complete my review of Marty's SR-325i Grados with the mahagony cups, walnut gimbals, brass rods, rod ends and knurled knobs for adjusting the gimbals.  These were a fun pair of headphones to try out - to have the opportunity to see and hear someone else's modifications for a change.  Tomorrow, these headphones will go onto their new owner.  As some of you might recall, Marty did have them listed on Audiogon and they have been sold.  Ironically, the person who purchased them lives about 1/2 mile away from me, so I'll be delivering these fine headphones to the new buyer tomorrow evening.
 
Link to the review: http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/558621/woodied-grado-review-and-impressions-thread/15#post_7617965
 
Also, today, I received my shipping notices for:
 

1. A new pair of SR-225i Grados
2. New pads (donut and comfy)
3. My cups from Marty (I'll have pictures up this weekend of the finished product)
4. My leather headphone band from Marty (again, pictures and observations will be posted this coming weekend)

 
Finally, the picture of the smaller cups that I posted above are those that are paired with my MS-1i drivers, Mogami cable and Neutrik connector.  I've posted these for sale over in the FS section of the forum.
 
I still need to write a few more reviews for KneelJung's thread on wooden cups and sound improvements based on some of the current as well as one previous pair that I've since sold.  Those should be up in the next 2 - 3 days.
 
After that?  Who knows?  Time for another hobby?  Time to spend dumping knowledge into the Wiki on Grado modding?  Lots of options, but I do know I'll need to lock down on the mods at that point as I'll have my 2 pair of SR-225i "woodied" headphones that I should be quite content with.
 
However, I am tossing around the idea of making available a certain headphone component that seems to be in demand.  However, I'm not sure how and when I'm ready to take that big leap over the lake.  I love being a consistent poster here in the forum, but becoming a MOT, makes that process a bit harder to do.
 

 

[stratocaster]

Thank you. I had my share of burn marks with my first attempts on some cheap wood. So I reduced the rotations per minute of the drill press and I am careful to take my time and allow for the metal of the hole saw to cool down every once in a while.
 
Quote:

Nice job on these...especially considering no lathe. Without a lathe it would be very difficult to sand, not to mention other detail work. Also, I don't see any burn marks! Can be tricky with a drill press.
 

 

[lalman]

Not really contributing, just thought I'd share what this thread has made me do so far. Punched some holes in up in those babies (4, to be precise), got some 414-pads and a DT770-headband. Looks pretty sexy if you ask me. Extremely comfortable as well, been wearing those for hours.
 
Oh, and count me in the grado fanclub. These trump any Sennhesier I've heard so far.
 

 
Those are MS-1's btw.
 
So... What's next?

 

[eclein]

Big Bill--I have been breaking in my 301MK2 and buying and learning about IEM's....I only got 6 pair so far...LOL...so I'm being good. Hows that amp doing I sent your way???? Big Bill can you PM me and tell me what the heck has been going on here!!!
I saw Part II and Chris told me about the other thread getting clamped...wow...
 
Kneeljung-------HOWDY BUDDY!!!!!!!!!
Sharkz--Hey dude!!! Did you ever get your drivers????? I traded the ones I had for some IEM's..

 

[Big Bill]

Quote:

 
Big Bill, would it be possible to re-post this link on the first page? It'd be nice to have all the step-by-step, and other useful posts all gathered together.

 

 
 
Done.
 
 

 

[wje]

QuestHate and Big Bill,
 
The driver I received from QuestHate was too far gone to locate the wire traces heading to the voice coil / mylar on the driver.  However, Big Bill has a need for some of the components (wave guide, etc.) - so, I was placed in the mail today and on it's 250 mile journey to Bill's house for some upcoming surgery this weekend.  While this driver met the end of the road, it's great to see that there was some recycle abilities in the parts.  And, who said that Head-Fi members were not "going green".  

 

[eclein]

What ya guys building????  

 

[Big Bill]

Quote:

What ya guys building????  

I'm de-liberating a replacement driver for Kneel Jung.
 

 

[wje]

After some thought ... and the process of going through several upgrade processes over the past several months, I've come to some conclusions that might seem quite basic - yet, could assist others in their decision process.  Thoughts?
 
 
 

Edit: After some additional thought, I have some other ideas to take this process a bit further.  For now, let's consider this Rev. 1. 
 
 

 

[Big Bill]

Nice work, cant wait for the final draft!

 

[Kojaku]

Not really contributing, just thought I'd share what this thread has made me do so far. Punched some holes in up in those babies (4, to be precise), got some 414-pads and a DT770-headband. Looks pretty sexy if you ask me. Extremely comfortable as well, been wearing those for hours.
 
Oh, and count me in the grado fanclub. These trump any Sennhesier I've heard so far.
 

 
Those are MS-1's btw.
 
So... What's next?

1. Better pads: TTVJ flats, bowls, donuts (trimmed bowls), jumbos, or even c-pads if you're ballsy.
2. Wood cups, lathed or layered (Cabillas, Marty, Bigrock, yourself(?))
3. Custom leather headband (buy from Marty, make your own following the tutorial here on head-fi)
4. Cable Mod (silver from a variety of sources)
5. Possible Dynamat ( not a personal favorite of mine)
6. Possible gimbal and rod replacement (available via Marty as well)
7. Buy new headphones higher up in the line-up
8. Repeat steps 1-7 till satisfied.

Kojaku