Arkay
Lunatic Member
I have a pair of "project" speaker cabinets (Originally from the ESS Tempest series) that have an originally-beautiful woodgrain veneer on them. The problem is that a lot of the edges are badly chipped, which sort of ruins their appearance. The backs don't look too good, either.
I got to thinking of ways to preserve the large central areas, while masking the chipped edges. To remove the outer edges of veneer and re-veneer those parts would be a lot of work. To make them flush and paint them black might not look nice...
BUT putting brass trim over the edges, to cover the chipped parts, would go very well with the walnut woodgrain. Then I might put brass corner pieces over the corners, to match, and make them resistant to damage (a bit like the corner pieces on a lot of pro speakers). A brass shop here has all kinds of brass pierce-work, too (mostly Chinese patterns, of course). Then I remembered some black leather skins I have, and thought how they might look over the back and front baffle (might improve the acoustics, too -?-). The original grills are gone on these. I started thinking about putting corners on the grills, to match or complement the corners of the cabinet. I have a scroll saw that might create some interesting pierced fretwork designs for grill corners... Maybe matching wood-and-brass stands, to set them on? Slowly, some ideas like this for "Steampunk Speakers" began to nibble at my thoughts...
So I did a search for "Steampunk audio gear" on Google, to see what has already been done and posted along these lines. Not much out there, it seems, but some, and some of it (like the synthesizer in the first link) quite impressive:
http://www.synthgear.com/2009/synthesizers/steampunk-analogue-modular-sequencer/
http://www.hardwaresphere.com/2010/03/02/steampunk-steam-pipe-audio-speakers/
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/08/07/steampunk-dj-rig/
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=28889.0
I was wondering what things along these lines might be out there among the broader collective world of AK... of course, the "Rat's Paw" tonearm featured in a thread here recently would DEFINITELY qualify!
Any other "Steampunk" audio gear secretly residing in AKer's houses, or evolving on their workbenches, or even just sketched on their napkins? IF so, here's an excuse/place to post them!
I got to thinking of ways to preserve the large central areas, while masking the chipped edges. To remove the outer edges of veneer and re-veneer those parts would be a lot of work. To make them flush and paint them black might not look nice...
BUT putting brass trim over the edges, to cover the chipped parts, would go very well with the walnut woodgrain. Then I might put brass corner pieces over the corners, to match, and make them resistant to damage (a bit like the corner pieces on a lot of pro speakers). A brass shop here has all kinds of brass pierce-work, too (mostly Chinese patterns, of course). Then I remembered some black leather skins I have, and thought how they might look over the back and front baffle (might improve the acoustics, too -?-). The original grills are gone on these. I started thinking about putting corners on the grills, to match or complement the corners of the cabinet. I have a scroll saw that might create some interesting pierced fretwork designs for grill corners... Maybe matching wood-and-brass stands, to set them on? Slowly, some ideas like this for "Steampunk Speakers" began to nibble at my thoughts...
So I did a search for "Steampunk audio gear" on Google, to see what has already been done and posted along these lines. Not much out there, it seems, but some, and some of it (like the synthesizer in the first link) quite impressive:
http://www.synthgear.com/2009/synthesizers/steampunk-analogue-modular-sequencer/
http://www.hardwaresphere.com/2010/03/02/steampunk-steam-pipe-audio-speakers/
http://www.synthtopia.com/content/2010/08/07/steampunk-dj-rig/
http://brassgoggles.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=28889.0
I was wondering what things along these lines might be out there among the broader collective world of AK... of course, the "Rat's Paw" tonearm featured in a thread here recently would DEFINITELY qualify!
Any other "Steampunk" audio gear secretly residing in AKer's houses, or evolving on their workbenches, or even just sketched on their napkins? IF so, here's an excuse/place to post them!
