Bottlehead Forum

Bottlehead Kits => Crack => Topic started by: radiowires on May 03, 2019, 07:40:11 PM

Title: My completed build
Post by: radiowires on May 03, 2019, 07:40:11 PM

After spending a couple of hours each day for the past week, I've finished my Crack! It's technically not 100% complete (the shellac spray that I applied to the box has an "orange peel" texture that I want to try to rub out later; badge is in the mail; Speedball is awaiting installation in a few months), but I couldn't wait to plug it in and give it a spin.

I've attached a couple of photos, as I'm quite proud of how it turned out! I think that it actually looks better in person than in photos.

I also took some time to write a Reddit post to present some of the information that I've learned along the way, which might be helpful for beginners like myself: https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/bkhqrc/a_beginners_guide_to_the_bottlehead_crack/ (https://www.reddit.com/r/headphones/comments/bkhqrc/a_beginners_guide_to_the_bottlehead_crack/) If you see anything inaccurate, please let me know and I can edit it.

Thanks very much to all of you for creating and maintaining a friendly and welcoming community. I appreciate the time and effort that you spend educating us newcomers -- I'm excited to try other audio projects...

Title: Re: My completed build
Post by: fromnowon on May 04, 2019, 12:56:49 AM

Looks really beautiful!

Title: Re: My completed build
Post by: adydula on May 04, 2019, 02:21:46 AM

Great Job!!

Enjoy it before you Speedball....so you will get used to its sound now etc..

Alex

Title: Re: My completed build
Post by: Deke609 on May 04, 2019, 05:16:36 AM

I really like the color of the base. Is that just from the shellac, or did you stain it first?

Title: Re: My completed build
Post by: radiowires on May 04, 2019, 01:37:57 PM

Thank you! I used this dark brown walnut aniline dye: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008L2LOP4/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008L2LOP4/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) The dye gave the wood a surprisingly violet tint, which wasn't bad, just unexpected. After applying the shellac, it is now a golden brown, which I like quite a lot!

Title: Re: My completed build
Post by: Deke609 on May 04, 2019, 03:29:05 PM

Looks great. Thanks for the link. I think I'll try some aniline dye for one of my amps.

Title: Re: My completed build
Post by: Crackawaka on May 07, 2019, 08:01:57 AM

This looks fantastic! Like you, I'm also sitting on my speedball kit and are enjoying it stock right now.