Any thoughts on a solid hickory platform under my tt

If you use isolation under your table (Townshend Seismic Pods, roller bearings, air bearing), the material of the shelf will not matter (as much?). I still have a couple of Torlyte shelves, the extremely low-mass design (hollow balsa-wood construction---very stiff, very non-resonant) big in England in the 80's and 90's. Linn-inspired, of course. Some of Ikea's butcher blocks are made of Bamboo, somewhat low-mass. What's so special about Maple? The best drum shells are made of Maple because of it's resonance and long sustain, not what I want in a support structure for my table!

Bdp24 wrote,

"What’s so special about Maple? The best drum shells are made of Maple because of it’s resonance and long sustain, not what I want in a support structure for my table!"

Actually that’s why you DO want maple as a support structure for your table. It’s the natural musicality of maple that makes it such a good material for all sorts of isolation and support projects, such as Mapleshade racks and stands and my own Nimbus sub Hertz platform as well as musical instruments. It's been used by luthiers for centuries. Hel-looo! It’s musical. It’s magic. I prefer grade AAA white maple.

geoff kait
machina dramatics

Just FYI, I ended up with a Corian platform on my wall shelf when I had the Linn.  It sounded significantly better to my ears than glass or wood.  I left it there when I bought my Basis and never bothered to try anything else with it.  But don't overlook Corian, is my point. 

Corian is a very dense material i fabbed it for many year when i was a woodworker . I think it becomes a personal choice of sound and ascetics..  

If interested, I wrote this review on a similar line: https://forum.audiogon.com/discussions/symposium-segue-iso-2

I had a maple butcher I used with my turntable and was amazed at how little isolation the maple provided.