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Bottlehead owners?

hatrack71

hatrack71

distracted by everything
Hey fellow Bottleheads! Just wanted to take a look at some of your BH projects to get ideas of how to redo my other Paramours and Foreplays. I just did one of my Paramour pairs, a Foreplay and will put a finish on the Seduction base today. Here is how they are turning out. Would love to see how yours turned out. Please post some pics of your Bottleheads, I'm looking for inspiration.
 

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Well those sure look 1000% better than mine. I have a Seduction, a Foreplay, and Paramounts that are still in the raw state they came in. I plan on building nicer frames out of nicer wood someday, that is why my lazy but didn't finish them. Just need to finish my shop. Easier said than done.
Yours came out nice and thanks for sharing and giving me a little nudge at the same time.

Kim
 
i've ordered the new smash preamp. will be my 1st tube build.

i'd love to make the stereomours some day...
 
vinylkid58 said:
Yeah, that's what I was thinkin' regarding my old Foreplay II. It was built by someone else, who painted the top plate flat black.:puke:

jeff
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Ha! I have a pair of black Paramours I will be doing next. Someone was kind enough to round all of the corners with an orbital sander and a pretty hefty grit. :no: Good thing they sound beautiful. Those will just get solid walnut boxes instead of all the work needed in prepping and then re-veneering the current boxes. I actually think building boxes from raw walnut is easier than working with this blasted solid walnut veneer. It can be a real pain in the ass at times and not want to lay down. Can you tell I'm getting frustrated? It also doesn't have uniform thickness. But it has the appearance of being solid walnut since it has no paper backer. That I like.
 
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I finally did make the bases for the black Paramours, a Seduction and a Foreplay (being sanded currently... well, when 'm not on the computer :^)). Here are the pics of the solid walnut boxes. I am sorry about the pics. I didn't realize the foam reflection would f$$k with the pics this much. I call this a teaser until I can get them in better light. These are all from the same board of walnut. Look in the second pic how the grain flows from the first Paramour all the way to the Seduction. The grain ran really straight on this board. This was a happy accident that looks killer though. The miters are super tight. It ended up being a nice board with minimal planing needed. I am devising a clamp for the tops using little triangle pieces of walnut screwed to 3/16" ply running slightly wild past the triangle edge( 1 inch or so) that will provide a surface to clamp to each piece when a third clamp squeezes the two triangles closer and thusly any open gap in the miter will close very tightly in theory.. I have been using 23 gauge pins which are nearly invisible but still there. You really have to strain to see them though. Whoever came up with the 23 gauge pinner was a genius. Like little itty bitty sewing needles. But they hold and keep the joint very tight until the glue dries. I reinforce with solid walnut corner pieces on the inside corners glued and 23 guage pinned in a couple places to hold the piece from moving. The boxes seem to stay together nice. I'm sanding pretty forcefully on them afterward so I'm confident they will last. I'm definitely gonna try the upper clamp idea I have in mind to eliminate any type of visible fasteners. All in all, I am so much happier with the solid wood bases. They look so much better. So much so, I am making new bases for the ones I just veneered. Either out of Koa or African Mahogany to change it up.
 

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What kind of wood is that? I had an idea after going to my local recycled building supply store yesterday. I found a bunch of solid bamboo flooring pieces that are just a hair over 3.5" at the widest point. My plan is to rip these right down the middle, thickness wise standing up, on a table saw. Then into the planer down to 3/16" veneer. Thick enough to miter on the corners, thin enough to glue and conform to the substrate. The bamboo pieces are only 1/2" thick so are not suitable for boxes really. I'll prep all of the old boxes surfaces first and they will get solid bamboo. Could actually look pretty good.
 
Good question. But, he does have the glue together version that has no holes if you wanted to go that route. I am pretty much relegated to something like this because a wood worker I am not.
 
MWalt said:
Good question. But, he does have the glue together version that has no holes if you wanted to go that route. I am pretty much relegated to something like this because a wood worker I am not.
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Buy a plug cutter for the hole size it turns out to be, I'll send you a scrap of 1/2" bamboo if you need it.
 
Those walnut bases look really nice. I stained my alder bases with walnut stain which looks ok, but nowhere near as nice as those. Well done! If you end up making anymore, say, to fit a seduction and stereomour by chance, let me know. :D
 
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