adventures in armboard making!

[karma67]

Hi folks,
After getting some prices for having an ebony tonearm board made for my AR turntable,i thought id make my own.The original was 6mm mdf,we can do better!!

Here's the blank cut to shape and drilled ready for tonearm hole to be drilled.
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj548/jamiecreig123/20150314_105540_zpsfqs3wmvy.jpg

Next up and the blank is fitted to the sub chassis and carefully measured for hole to be drilled. I decided to go for 219.5 from the spindle in order to still use the baerwald alignment.
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj548/jamiecreig123/20150314_111136_zpsgrn73j6b.jpg

Masking tape removed and hole drilled.
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj548/jamiecreig123/20150314_114456_zpsrxnzpddf.jpg

1st coat of oil.
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj548/jamiecreig123/20150314_115331_zpssc0qvn8b.jpg

And all fitted to the turntable.
http://i1267.photobucket.com/albums/jj548/jamiecreig123/20150314_132809_zpsogur6b3t.jpg

All in all im very pleased with it!

[Audio Al]

Looks very nicely made :)

[Tarzan]

Looks very nicely made :)

X2 excellent job Jamie.

Love your avatar piccie where is that from may I ask.:)

[karma67]

thank you both, im liking the sound difference,i own a doberman (or rather she owns me) and im on one of the doberman pages on fbook.the pic is from there.:)

[karma67]

im just mulling over the idea of using a sheet of delrin to try,anybody used this before?

[Desmo]

Hi Jamie, where did you source the ebony? I'm thinking of doing something similar for my Systemdek. Wooden armboards seem to be very popular at the moment.

[karma67]

hi mate,i got it from a firm called timberline http://www.exotichardwoods.co.uk/
ive got a 10mm thick piece of acrylic to try next.:)

[karma67]

hmm intersting... ive just fitted the acrylic board,first impressions are with the ebony one the mid range is improved with a slight loss of the highs,symbols dont seem to ring like they used to,with the acrylic the highs have come back with a slight loss of mid range. decisions decisions...which one shall i go for??

[Marco]

Hi Jamie,

You may find that the accentuated "highs" you're hearing with the acrylic board is coloration - a false effect, whereas the ebony board's presentation is less 'forced', thus more natural and realistic. That's certainly my experience, anyway :)

Marco.

[karma67]

cheers marco,
could you give me a good description of coloration so i can pin it down to that and not just the board sounding better,novice terms please.

[trio leo]

I'd like try ebony or maybe Lignum Vitae, which is similar but harder, I wonder whether too hard would make things worse as maybe too soft could, I made an armboard of 1/4" aluminium it was awful, I currently use acrylic, but I feel it's lacking something.

It will be interesting to hear about the different results people get.

Enjoy your music :)

Cheers Al

[karma67]

well after doing back to back listening tests ive put the ebony one back on. i have it on good authority from a guy in the states who does a lot of upgrade work on these ar turntables that lacewood is the one to use so im going get some in and start cutting again!

[karma67]

lacewood is on its way,the adventure continuals, although its gotta go a long way to beat the ebony one :)

[struth]

lacewood is on its way,the adventure continuals, although its gotta go a long way to beat the ebony one :)

Interesting choice of wood.. Think it is similar to American sycamore and has a difficult grain, but it is used for musical instruments so should have good tonal qualities.

[karma67]

its actual called plane or london plane, its only called lacewood when its cut to show its medullary rays and you get the figuring that is similar to
what you see on the backs of violins,ie fiddleback sycamore.
im getting rather good at knocking these up,im down to 30 mins per arm board! lol