Say it aint so--- Teres quality question

Sayas,

Me thinks thou doest protest too much.

Consider yourself flammed as that seems to be all you are looking for.

I don't share the concerns about humidity migrating into and out of the wooden pieces. Every one of the finished pieces is finished with an epoxy resin. That's a pretty substantial barrier. Besides, violins, guitars, cellos and other much more delicate wooden items have survived the test of time. These turntables will not experience the forces of a speaker cabinet and they are made out of much less substantial materials. Father time will be the ultimate judge on this issue and this thread will be long gone before the results are in.

Sayas,

You are mistaken and misinformed, FACT. But, you're right saying that other "machines" can do just as good a job. I finish sanded my plinth and armboard today. By hand. With a block. Just for shits & grins, I pulled out the dial indicator and a surface plate (I know a little ((actually a lot)) more about manufacturing and tolerances than I let on) and decided to check the parallel surfaces. There is less than .010" difference across the plinth, on both sides. On the arm board there is less than .005". That just goes to show you that it is very possible to get the same finish in wood as you can in metal, or anything else. I could probably do less than .002" in metal, but like I said before, what for?

Patrick,

I agree after a little reflection, kinda. As an acoustic guitar player for about 30 years, I can tell you that string instruments most definitely react to temp & humidity changes. Acoustical instruments more so. This has a lot to do with the thinness of the wood, scalloped bracing, and the tension of the strings. Tonewoods react to these variables.

Besides, violins, guitars, cellos and other much more delicate wooden items have survived the test of time. These turntables will not experience the forces of a speaker cabinet and they are made out of much less substantial materials. Father time will be the ultimate judge on this issue and this thread will be long gone before the results are in.

Look at any pre 1950 Martin and you will see the effects of aging on a guitar. While it is true that forces that affect these other instruments and speakers do not affect a TT, the sealing with epoxy goes a long way in preventing this.

But I do agree with you re the wood platter. Like I said before, if Tom's Teres shows no ill effects from his rather drastic and repeated temp & humidity changes, I don't think anyone else out there even needs to worry about it, period!

Arrgh! You pulled me back out with the Martin reference. I once had the long term loan of a '39 0-18, which had originally belonged to the grandmother in a family close to ours. I received it when I was about 14 years old (began playing at 11), and the bridge had raised up due to its having been left unattended in its case for years with the strings tensioned. So my folks sent it off to Martin, and they did a super repair job. I played that thing like crazy for around 10 years - never played another guitar that 'talked' so responsively. Then, a relative in the family it had come from decided he wanted to play the guitar, so I had to give it up. Long story short, he moved to tropical Miami, and when I visited him a few years back, the Martin had been rendered completely unplayable by the climate, much worse than when I had gotten it. To me, it looked ruined and sounded like hell (couldn't be tuned at all, and barely fretted up the neck). Naturally, he had given up on trying to play years before. What a waste...it's an ambition of mine to one day own another (probably a 00 or 000 though).

Okay, maybe I didn't state the obvious about wooden musical instruments. They do require periodic attention by a luthier. Having owned two Martins myself since 1969 I had them tweaked a total of three times. I'm guilty of over simplifying. I figured readers would have a grasp of the abuses a stringed instrument undergoes and the stresses required for it to play. None of these issues are faced by a turntable platter. Hey Zakes, I sold my 000-18 to an old employer about twelve years ago and the last time I asked it was still under his bed, unplayed. Occassionaly I long for that guitar but prefer the dreadnaught bodies. Like stereo gear it would be nice to have multiples.