Thrift store found: solid oak CD rack restoration profile

Gentle reader,

Yes, it's been a while since I posted. Been quite busy plus the hard drive died on my until-then trusty Dell PC.

After attempts to revive the old girl, I gave up and updated my wife's PC since she doesn't use it anymore. Being 8 1/2 years younger than I, (she's JUST 50) she has embraced "smart" technology better than I. In fact, I am quite happy with my folding cell phone.... I even have Windows 7 now, it's taking some getting used to and now the machine is suggesting Windows 10!

But enough about that. One thing I love to do, but don't do often is woodworking. Waiting in line at the local Salvation Army store one day, I spied two things: A still sealed solar battery charger and a wooden CD rack of a unique design. Bought both for $7.50 each with the Wednesday 25% discount. 

If you've followed my blog, you've seen some of the LP and CD shelves and racks that I have in the listening room and in here, my "study" or home office. Or as my wife says, "Man cave 1-of-2."

I have an all plastic CD rack that rotates and holds 400 CDs on it's four sides. That one holds Jazz and movie scores/soundtracks. Fun fact: The "soundtrack" is ALL sounds in the film or TV show. The "score" is JUST the music that accompanies and adds to the movie/show. Now some music is listed as "Original Soundtrack from..." but is in fact the popular music adapted to the movie. A TRUE Original Soundtrack is one that the composer chosen to provide the music for the movie/show creates and usually conducts. Some of the finest composers of the 20th/21st Centuries have made all their music to accompany images/scenes. John Williams, Hans Zimmer, Jerry Goldsmith and others that you no doubt have heard of are such as these.

OK, so above you see the completed rack. Different, isn't it? My wife thinks and I agree that it was a kit. The original owner must have just put it together with no thought of actually finishing it!

Above is one of twelve plastic pieces that do the actual holding of the CD "jewel cases". They hold just one corner. That's enough to do the job. Now "digi-packs" don't work. They have to rest upon the CD beneath.

Above are the four legs removed from the assembly and stripped of the twelve holders. I think all the holes were pre-drilled except the ones for the metal rotating assembly that goes on the bottom. It was off center and the thing spun a little drunkenly.

The photo above shows the unfinished top sans plugs atop the finished and oiled bottom. Quite a difference! Note the stain in the center? Someone put a drink on the top of the rack and it made a permanent stain. Patina, right? To get to the screws that held the beast together, I had to pry the wooden plugs out of this top piece. The legs stayed together. I sanded the hardwood plugs flush with the wood. 

 Above is the rotating assembly now centered and lubricated and reinstalled. My wife found those thick felt pads for the bottom so it wouldn't scratch whatever surface it was on.

In the above photo, you can see the bottom and it's finish of Tung oil. Pretty and the wood is happier, too.

Above, is the now finished and installed top piece. This one had the roughest edges and required a lot of hand sanding. The plugs, as I said, are sanded flush as are the ones on the legs below:

Above is a nice detail shot showing the plastic retainers and curve of the legs as does the picture below:

These three photos were made on the dining room table prior to the unit being moved into the "Listening Room" or as my wife calls it: "Man cave 2-of-2."

Above and below are three photos of the oak table I found the next week at the same thrift store. It too was $7.50.

I like the inlaid top. Of course it is hidden by the base of the CD rack!

By the way, this rack holds 300 CDs. The other rotating one (it has the large dragon on top) holds 200. I have put the Classical CDs that have individual composers on them on two sides. One side has multiple composer CDs and one is empty.

Above is the wall-mounted wooden rack and floor-standing wire rack that held Classical CDs prior to the new rotating 300 CD rack.

Poof! The wire rack is gone!

The wooden rack above now holds; first two columns Beethoven 9th Symphony. Third column Aaron Copland CDs. Right-side column holds the Yellow label CDs that were made under various label names.

Note, above that the oak table is exactly the same depth as the LP shelves that I ALSO bought from the same store! I planned it that way. "Yeah, that's the ticket!"

Another narrower view of the completed project. With a close-up of the final project. Pretty nice!

That's it for that project and I was kind of sad when it was over. I enjoyed it! 

On an aside, another project I'm working on is rehabilitating a pair of vintage Radio Shack cast-metal stereo speakers. I will show and tell you all about that soon. As a tease, here they are as I found them at, wait for it....... the SAME STORE!

Thanks for looking and come back sometime!

Scott

 

New Asian art, electronics, Audiophile LPs & other changes

Gentle reader,

Yes, I did just make a post yesterday. However, in it, I told you I would soon post an update one regarding thrift store finds, etc.

To begin, I don't know why I love Asian artwork. I believe it stems from a Japanese Geisha doll that my one-and-only Aunt had and still does. About a foot tall and in a glass case. Why it influenced me, I do not know. First off, my latest and smallest dragon. Quite colorful.

He's about five inches wide and came in a nice padded cloth-lined box. I couldn't resist him. He's ceramic. Below, a great find as I think this cork art is just fascinating. Unlike the others that I have, this one is very large and the glass case lifts off. Which is good as a few things had fallen off and I removed them rather than trying to glue them back in place.

Behind, and the effect is greater when viewed directly from the front, is a print that I forgot I had. Rather than having the chair rail/wires as a background, this works well. Below is the print.

The colors are brighter and lines more crisp than seen here. One cannot photograph glass straigh on. A flash creates a hot spot, without, one can see all the reflected items as you will see later on.

Above and below (the print to the lower right came out unfocused so I deleted it) are two framed prints. The strings are from the window blinds, one side refused to stay up, so I tied it off. The antenna in front of the lower right print is part of an amplified TV "rabbit ears" antenna that I found. I merely stripped the end of the cheap wire antenna that came with the floor radio and inserted it into the "F" connector. With the amplifier on, all I got was noise. No power, all the distant Washington, D.C. radio stations come in crystal clear. $3.00, gotta love thrift stores! Below is the print to the left.

Last Asian (not PC to say Oriental, if you do so, apologize by saying, "It was an Occident!" Google Occidental to get it, if you don't at first.) item is the latest sword. It's the one in the middle. It is better quality and matches the genuine large one better. The smallest one is now in here for future ebay sale.

Once again, lest you think me a hunter, I am not, nor will I ever be. That skin was bought in the 1960's by my late friend, Colonel Bill Arps in Thailand. It's from a Fishing Cat. So yes, some cats DO like water.

Another art item is this great poster, which is professionally mounted on wood, was made by Jimmy Cantus when he was 17 in about 1973. It has sold worldwide. I think it's really cool and I love The Lord of The Rings books and movies. I have to figure out where to hang it.....

Next is another mounted and also framed print of a 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera which was done by David Kimble for Petersen Publishing. See what I mean about reflections in glass?

Below is one that I bought via ebay. From the 1970 racing season, two JW Automotive Porsche 917s being chased by the Porsche Salsburg 917. I don't recall which circuit it was, but it is NOT Le Mans or Daytona or Sebring. Definitely somewhere in Europe. I have another poster of the same two JW 917s taking a bend in the rain at the same circuit.

The two small items are, left, a small painting my Mother did, and an article from Los Gatos, CA showing my late-Father as a volunteer Police officer. Next, some electronics.

 Above, albeit slightly out-of-focus, are a Pioneer ELITE home theater receiver/preamplifier above a nice looking Harmon/Kardon CD changer. Both are on ebay now. Below are the rear panels of them.  The Pioneer predates digital signal transfer devices. It does have all six channels with analog outputs, which makes it a 100 watts-per-channel receiver AND a preamplifier. One could use a separate six-channel power amplifier with it.

Note the all-analog inputs below as well as the date of manufacture.

Below, the six-channel analog outputs as well as three-way banana/binding posts that are featured on the better components. 

Below are the speaker wiring I just finished doing. Last night, all of a sudden, the left channel stopped working in the listening room, but they both still worked in here. After troubleshooting, I determined that the left channel on the Dynaco Stereo 200 power amplifier's speaker selector switch had failed. So, I transferred the "A" speakers (in that room) to the "B" terminals. Plus, I transferred the wires for the LED power meters as well. Today, I removed the LEGEND speaker switch from in here. I spliced the incoming wires directly to the oak speakers. This leaves the BOSE 301 speakers unusable until I can find another switch for in here. THEN, I cut those same wires and put the remaining ten connectors on all ten wires and the switch now resides on the left-rear corner of the Dynaco amp. Once again, I can listen to the music from that room in this room.

The reason I marked the terminals is that from the factory, they were internally wired with reds and blacks placed horizontally. As the case was made with the correct 3/4" spacing to use double-banana plugs, I rearranged things. The factory markings no longer were correct, thus my hand-written marking.

Lastly, some of the LP records that I found lately. I bought FIFTY at one time from the Salvation Army because someone donated a bunch of Audiophile LPs. 38 of that 50 were those. Analogue Productions, Cheskey Records and reissues of 1960's classics.

Why are they "Audiophile"? Extreme care is used in the remastering and cutting of the master discs. Virgin vinyl is used and they usually weigh 180 or 200 grams. It shows in the sound. Silent backgrounds, extremely wide frequencies, large, deep sound-stage. It's simply stunning to listen to.

Thanks again, for looking!

Scott

 

XBox 360 Forza 4 100% Completed Chapter Nine

Gentle reader,

Yes, it's been a while since I've posted. I've been busy. Despite the title above, I have acquired a number of new Asian art items, almost 40 audiophile LPs (@ 75 cents each!), some audio equipment and even a few new watches, three Swatch chronographs and a Stuhlring. These will be featured in a future post.

On topic, I went through my racing stable and got rid of many of the FWD small cars as I don't forsee a racing need for them, and have acquired an number of other, more fun or interesting ones.

Today, I test drove a Ferrari 250 GTO. Oddly, in Forza 4, it does not look like the ones that come to mind. Frankly, I was very disappointed in the performance, so did not buy it. 

Last time, we left off with the 1971 Ford Mustang Mach 1. We attended a local car show a week ago and a real one of these was there. I still like them, even though they are huge. Next up, from the same era is my 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T. That stands for Road/Track.

Nice, period correct livery. Side-by-side with the modern Challenger, these are sleek and svelte.

Below is a car similar to one a friend's dad had, among all his flathead Fords, an Alfa Romeo Giulia Sprint GTA Stradale.

Fun, small, quick and so Italian. 

Next, the car named for and after the American race series called: Trans AM. The 1969 Pontiac Trans Am. This first year, this was the only paint scheme (American Racing Colors) one could get it in.

Similar to my very first car which was also a 1964 Chevrolet Impala two-door coupe, this tricked out SS (Super Sport) model had different chrome trim and wheel covers. This one painted in mid-1960's NASCAR livery, despite the modifications is still a pig to race.

Chevrolet's street version of THEIR Trans Am racer, the Z/28, this one a 1970 1/2 model, 1968, I believe was the first year of Roger Penske's racer in Sunoco blue. I'm not sure about this livery being correct, but I like it.

On the real cars, I prefer the front bumperettes that do not cover the grille.

Vauxhall, is Britain's branch of General Motors. The also have marketed Australian and German GM models under their badge. The Astra, (Opel in Europe) was sold here as a Saturn and I really like the look, but performance models like this VXR never were offered. This is right-hand-drive.

Next another of the Shelby models, this one a 1969 Mustang-based one with the 428 Cobra Jet big-block engine. 

The person that came up with this livery did a nice job.

From France, no conehead required, is one of the ones that I sold, a 2011 Citroen DS3.

Next, in a nice period-correct paint scheme, is a 1967 Corvette. 427 Big-block V8 engine with sidepipes.

I actually wrecked a real one of these when I was 17. I was working as an apprentice mechanic at a Chevy dealer. Guy brought his in for a lube job and check the brakes. He failed to mention the brakes didn't work! I found out the hard way. He threatened to sue, then backed off.

I think the Volvo below qualifies as the oldest one in my garage.

They beat Mitsubishi to the "Evolution" name by a few years.

Next, another original Trans Am racer. This one with an "Art Car" type paint scheme. 19791 Plymouth 'Cuda. Short for Barracuda. Of course, Trans Am limited engines to 5 liters or 305 cubic inches. The 426 Hemi is WAY too big for that!

Another of the same era, also big-blocked with their 455 Super Duty engine, a 1973 Pontiac Trans Am.

Another Trans Am racer, this being a Mercury Cougar with the correct paint for the racer then.

A car, I'd love to have and one of two in my garage: Lexus IS300. I prefer the Sportcross station wagon body and test drove a very red one, but couldn't afford it. Gorgeous car.

A car I really like in real life, the early 6 Series. And the last for this group of 15.

Thanks for looking. We are closing in on 60,000 page views. I owe it all to you!

Scott