Custom-made real wood covers

Brudha

Shania before Mark Twain
Has anyone went to the expense of replacing their existing vinyl rosewood covers with real wood? I'm not talking about a thin layer of veneer over the old plywood, but fully fabricating a new cover in solid, lustrious, exotic hardwood such as walnut, ebony, etc.?

Is there anyone specializing in this at all? Would your typical cabinet-maker be the logical source for doing this?

Are there cons or pitfalls at even attempting this such as possible warping and/or cracking to consider?
 
A good craft wood worker should have little problem doing what you want thing to do it go to the little craft/art fairs they have in city parks and such and look for a guy who does things like decoritive wood boxes.

A note Exotic woods can take a long time to properly cure so be sure the wood is well cured before use as the warmth will cause cracking. And stay away from Black Ebonies they crack even when properly cured.

I spent 14 years making my living as a custom Knifemaker and have used maybe a hundred different woods and some are great some just suck.

Good old american or European Walnut, Cherry, Magogany, Etc. tradionaly furiture woods will be your safest choices.

Talk with the wood worker/cabinet maker guy see what they know. Judge by that if you want them to try.
 
The case is not that complex. Any good cabinet shop should be able to make it. You can also try contacting AK member tomefs. He makes nice cases for the x0x0 series Sansuis.

- Pete
 
There are folks that specialize in woodwork for mcintosh, marantz and other audio gear. I would contact these guys and see what they can do for you. If you cant' find one off the rack maybe they can put you in touch with the fab shop.

No point reinventing the wheel.

sdz
 
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Hello I have had a lot of sucsess with the Sansui 9090 and Marantz 2200 seires receiver cases, but to do one completley in a soild wood would be a lot more money. The wood might warp.I estimate the cost if you can find a cabinet maker to make just one for you to be well over $200. USD. I did have some very nice 9090 cabinets done with automotive clearcoats and stains. but found most pepole just want the case to be original. tomefs
 
"...I'm not talking about a thin layer of veneer over the old plywood, but fully fabricating a new cover in solid, lustrious, exotic hardwood ..."

That's not necessarily the best way to do it. Solid wood warps and splits. A quality plywood or MDF with good veneer on top is probably the highest quality cabinet you could make.
 
Good quality cabinet making plywood is both strong and stable.
Takes a finish well too.
The result will be a superior product.
Keep the old case if value is a question, although that type of case on that type of equipment should really make devaluation a moot point.
 
Former Knive maker as well

Brudha said:
Has anyone went to the expense of replacing their existing vinyl rosewood covers with real wood? I'm not talking about a thin layer of veneer over the old plywood, but fully fabricating a new cover in solid, lustrious, exotic hardwood such as walnut, ebony, etc.?

Is there anyone specializing in this at all? Would your typical cabinet-maker be the logical source for doing this?

Are there cons or pitfalls at even attempting this such as possible warping and/or cracking to consider?

you may want to send this guy an email--
he quoted me $125.00 for all wood built from the bottom up for this unit.
His name is Frank.
Email address is: ats34@webtv.net

Good luck..

p.s. He also an avid Audio/musicphile.
 
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Brudha said:
Has anyone went to the expense of replacing their existing vinyl rosewood covers with real wood? I'm not talking about a thin layer of veneer over the old plywood, but fully fabricating a new cover in solid, lustrious, exotic hardwood such as walnut, ebony, etc.?

Is there anyone specializing in this at all? Would your typical cabinet-maker be the logical source for doing this?

Are there cons or pitfalls at even attempting this such as possible warping and/or cracking to consider?
AK member merylander makes cabinets for receivers and other gear. Think all the pic's same that were posted have gone away with the new server wiping out all old pic's. Send him a PM and he can send you some JPegs of same. His recent posts do show some of the cases he has veneered, but he also does complete cases in hardwoods. The Fisher receivers he did in black walnut were particularly attractive.
 
I have been considering the exact same project and I am a cabinetmaker!
So far my research has brought me to a sad conclusion. Cost Prohibitive!!!
I want to make my case out of Mahogany but can't find a source for thin stock boards. All want to sell me 4/4 or 1" thich lumber and I would have to plane it down to just under 3/8" thick. Do the math, thats about 62% pure waste and 1" thick clear mahogany 16" wide would scare you when you hear the price.
One other point in fact is that I am going to build my case for a G 9000.
Pop your case off and check out some of the work involved. It is by no means an easy task and in some areas you have to build up while in other areas you have to rabbet out channels and slots for the antenna and front panel lights and then cut the front edge dangerously thin for it to slide into the top edge of the face plate.
I think you will find it much cheaper and wiser to have your case veneered. Rob (Merrylander) does fabulous work and can make your case look fantastic if he will.
I am now beginning to search for thin mahogany plywood to see if this option might be less expensive. Even if I find a source for plywood, the work is the same and it is NOT an easy task, at least not for G 8000 or 9000 units!
I also would not go so far as to make any guarantees that splitting will not occur on solid wood cases simply because of the heat generated under the hood.
They really are a rather flimsy case and I do hate that vinyl simulated wood grain crap. They are nice receivers with one hell of a build and a lousy dress!

Gary
 
Gary why wouldn't you buy a 8" wide piece an cut it in half with a band saw plane it down from there and glue the matching halves together to get your 16" wide board.

High school wood shop type stuff. I worked with exotci hardwoods as thin as 1/16" in my years as a custom knifemaker.

There are guy here in Silverton who make little wooden boxes that are sold through catalogs and at art shows that do stuff totally amazing.

I don't see why it would be a big problem. granted it's not a $22.50 job to make a new hardwood cabinet but the results would sure be nice.
 
Gary why wouldn't you buy a 8" wide piece an cut it in half with a band saw plane it down from there and glue the matching halves together to get your 16" wide board.

High school wood shop type stuff. I worked with exotci hardwoods as thin as 1/16" in my years as a custom knifemaker

And the answer is quite simple. You need a mighty powerful and accurate band saw to resaw 8" wide lumber. You would also need at least 5/4 or 1 1/4" rough lumber to start with. My bandsaw will open to 7" but the resaw blade is 2 teeth per inch and the motor bogs down seriously.
You are right though, if I could use the heavy duty equipment we put in High School wood shops, I would toss most of mine in the landfill.
I do have a nice 10" wide board and I probably will just waste most of it by planning it down but there has to be a better way and the proper equipment would solve the problem or finding a mill that will provide the thin stock at reasonable prices.

Gary
 
I'm with gamalot, I do have a bandsaw but sitting here trying to think of what kind of jig I would have to build to saw an 8" board leaves my brain numb. Then there is the question of whether the bandsaw could handle the load.

I have the glue joint cutters (forget about a butt joint though maybe with splines it would work). and then the 45 degree corner joints, and who will guarantee that the whole thing won't warp with the uneven heat?

Thanks, but how anyone other than another cabinetmaker could tell you that it was solid vs veneer escapes me. Nice thing about MDF, it is stable and it is tough. I will happily ship a Fisher in one of my cabinets but I would not dare do that with an original Fisher cabinet. BTW, somewhere around the shop is a Marantz price list - the 2200 series cases used to sell for $22.95 :D

Here are two Fisher cases, note one thing where they are different than the manufacturers cases. The edge around the vent opening is not stained MDF but is veneered just like the rest of the case. A small difference but this finishes the case IMHO. The first is Cherry, now in the hands of an AK member, the second is Mahogany still waiting for Fisher Doc to ship the brass caps, but it has only been a month and a half so I do't expect them until the new year.


Rob
 
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Rob - post a couple of the Fisher cabinet pic's. They all got wiped out with the server change. Ad them to your above post and I'll delete this one.
 
I'm with Rob. Veneer gets a bad name because it's not "solid wood". There are many reasons veneer is better in certain situations such as this. Stability is the main one.

The other big one for me is the figure of the wood. If you find a great looking piece of wood that is all you have, one great looking piece. That piece could be made into may sheets of great veneer. This would make for a great cabinet with great grain pattern everywhere.

I'm a woodworker and have mostly worked in solid wood. Over the last year, after seeing Rob's great work, I've taken some classes and become good with veneer and will be using it on more of all my projects, not just audio.

I'm sure solid could be done, but veneer would be sweeter. Just my opinnion.

Gary
 
One other aspect, this talk of 'exotic' woods, I have worked with 'exotic' hardwood veneers and that is one of the causes of my thinning hair. Makore for instance has a high silica content. It dulls tools rapidly, wears down sandpaper faster than the paper wears down the wood. Sapele is nicer only because it does not contain all that silica, but will split in all sorts of crazy directions. Santos Rosewood is pretty (picture of our CR-2040 around here somewhere) but also splits in strange directions. There were other exotics whos names escape me at the moment, but getting flat veneers is nearly impossible, so you wet them down and clamp them between two flat pieces of MDF. Do this about 3 or 4 times and pray they don't split in the process and they become reasonably usable. Believe me, it is not chauvenism when I say give me good Noram hardwoods any day.

Rob
 
I'm with yo on the sexotis Rob!

I'm veneering a pair of A25's in Makore right know and it has been a bit of a nightmare. Thank goodness most of my hair is already gone.

Gary
 
OMI, I used to use Tung oil or Danish oil, but lately have been using Minwax's hand rubbed Poly figuring it will be more water stain resistant, about 3 or 4 coats does it.

Rob
 
merrylander said:
Santos Rosewood is pretty (picture of our CR-2040 around here somewhere) but also splits in strange directions.
Rob

Geez, I wish I read this earlier. I stopped by the local Rockler's today to check out the cocobolo stock and found a sale on veneers. $19.99 bundle or 3/$25. Well, I wound up with 3 bundles of Santos Rosewood, probably around 35 square feet total.
I guess I'm just a sucker for a nice figure.

BTW, I've been toying with the idea of repro cabinets myself. One offs are costly, but once one built/setup the proper jigs, he prolly could batch out a bunch pretty quick. I was thinking about Marantz 22xx cases made out of MDF or particle board, joined with a lock miter, and prolly with solid trim for the champhered edges. I think I figured you could get about 6 out of a 4' x 8' sheet of plywood, and even priced some domestic hardwood ply, but IIRC, it was almost as cheap to veneer it your self, especially if you wanted something that doesn't come in big sheets.
 
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