Maple Platform Question

For a nice finish, oil is hard to beat. I wonder why they say not to use it. Is it because of sound reflecting off it, or just change the properties of the wood itself? If its because of reflections, staining it may be the best option.

Sound reflecting off an oil-based painted maple platform atop a rack would harm the sound? Oh for heaven's sakes, now I've heard everything!!

Man, you guys gotta get out more, stressing over the "audio" qualities of a paint formulation is just too much...

-RW-

They said that maple has certain sound qualities and by using an oil based paint, it seals up some of the natural something or other and degrades the sound. When Mapleshade makes a semi gloss black shelf, it is given 4 coats of black lacquer and then hand buffed. That is what I intend to do although at my age, the hand isn't quite as steady at spray painting. I will do light even coats so the paint doesn't run. The lacquer paint is supposed to give the smoothest finish of all the types of paints.

Blue-tack in the school supplies section at kmart

If it were me, I'd follow Mapleshade's recommendations. I'd also try removing the cups from the VPI cones and let the points have contact on the platform. Of course as you know, that's really what the platform is for - to act as a "sink" for the vibration to drain into. I encourage you to experiment both ways, but I expect the cups would only act as a hard, flat surface against another hard, flat surface and just introduce the possibility for more vibration to occur. That particular kind of vibration BTW (between 2 hard surfaces), IME tends to add a recognizable brittleness or harshness to the upper mids. Sometimes using hard points that I've tried have had that same kind of effect, especially if the component on top of them weighs too little. It may help to add mass, but that may be a little problematic with a TT, of course. The biggest potential problem I see with your TT depends on the number of cones you have. If you have 4 cones, this is the most stable arrangement, but you may need to insure that all 4 are in as close to an equal amount of contact with the platform as is practical. Due to the fact that your platform may not be perfectly flat, then any time you need to lift the TT off of the platform, you then may need to recheck this, or you may hear a change...or not, it may depend. Of course, it helps that it's soft wood we're talking about and, effectively the more the points can dig in, the better...less chance for that upper-mid problem to develop. Of course, if you had 3 cones, this problem would be moot, although it would maybe be an awkward arrangement if your TT got bumped. Hope this helps.