Garrard 301 Plinth in Quartersawn 'Crushed' Hawaiian Koa by Woodsong Audio

Details are what matters, and when you look closely, we are confident that you will not find a better sounding, more well designed, or more finely crafted wood based plinth from which to build your Garrard into a world class turntable,  no matter what the price.     

For more than 14 years now, we have been building Garrard 301 and 401 based turntables, constantly striving for better performance with no compromise.       
 
For more than 30 years, we have been buying and collecting instrument grade tonewoods which we use in the construction of these heirloom pieces.    
 
Generations of engineering, and craftsmanship go into the creation of these works of audio excellence.    

 Your Garrard 301 motor unit mounts to the plinth using 4 polished oval slot head screws which are included, into internal threaded inserts within the plinth core.    
 
The tonearm board / cavity on this plinth is designed to accomodate between 9" and 12" tonearms.  The tonearm cable can exit either through the rear of the plinth, or through the bottom.    The armboard secures precisely with 3 allen head cap screws.     
 
  Power is delivered to the motor unit via a Furutech IEC AC inlet, with a highly flexible wiring harness designed to minimize potential motor vibration into the plinth.    

4 Track Audio isolation devices are included in the price, and one armboard machined to your preference.  Additional armboards are available on request.    Stillpoints Ultra SS,  Stillpoints Ultra 5s,  and Stillpoints 'OEM footers are also available on request. 
The tonearm board is a Panzerholz/ Koa laminate,  a recipe that we have found to work quite well.  We also offer armboards in varous hardwoods, bronze, austinitic stainless, and other materials.   Our state of the art machine shop facilities are able to satisfy any specific clinet requests which may come up.   

This particular plinth is in Quartersawn 'Crushed' Hawaiian Koa.   This is 'full on' instrument grade wood, with absolutely consistent figure throughout the entire surface of the plinth.  This Koa is intensely chatoyant, almost metallic looking, showing a 'crushed' figure, as well as the telltale 'ray fleck' that heppens with dead on quartersawn woods.  It is also exceptionally clear, as far as Koa goes, which is what attracted me to this particular board, with very straight, consistent grain.  It is obviously from a big, old Koa tree.       Very deep grain....  gorgeous....   

The top of this plinth is covered in Koa that is almost 2mm thick. The sides are the thickness of guitar sides, bent in the exact manner with the same tools.  It is epoxy bonded to the core in a vacuum press to last for a lifetime. The top of this plinth is book match and slip match joined with hot hide glue for truly invisible seams. 
The core is of an internal layer damped construction using a time adjusted and proven, excellent sounding, well thought out design.  
 
This plinth is finished in our signature polished, hand rubbed oil finish.  We love this finish for it's natural beauty, and its innate nature of 'growing old, gracefully.'     The wood is skillfully polished prior to oiling, revealing every minute detail of the wood down to it's cellular structure,  and also every minute of woodworking joinery.  Nothing is obscured.       
   Other finishes we offer include nitrocelluose lacquer in satin, gloss, and polished gloss, artist level automotive finishes, and catalyzed polyester finishes.    For metal chassis,  automotive urethane is the top choice.   For polished, high gloss wood finishes, in many people's opinion,  catalyzed polyester is the highest quality finish for a number of reasons. Catalyzed polyester is found on almost all of the very highest quality modern Grand Piano's currently being manufacured.  And for a good reason!   Who wants swirlies in their piano's finish? And,  who wants to buy a very expensive grand piano that has a finish that does not maintain it's fantastic look for many, many years?    Catalyzed polyester is extremely hard, and thus resistant to 'swirlies, and, this hardness also lends itself to a subtly better polish than is possible with automotive urethanes, though a very nice polished finish can be had with automotive urethanes, also.  Catalyzed polyester is easier to repair than automotive urethane, though both of these require highly skilled, professional application.   Catalyzed polyester is designed for wood, and is the highest quality, most durable gloss finish available for wood substrates such as the highest quality Grand Pianos.       If you are considering having a plinth built in a polished high gloss,  research 'automotive urethane vs catalyzed polyester' There is much information out there, especially in regards to piano finishes.  Catayzed polyester is the preferred finish, as it is much tougher, more durable,  and extremely resistant to 'swirlies.   Also,  a major benefit of catalyzed polyester on a wood surface, is that it does not 'shrink back, like automotive urethanes do.  All woods have a porous grain structure,  some are quite 'open grained'.   With a gloss finish, this needs to be 'grain filled' first.   If it is not grain filled, and if finished in an automotive urethane,  in a relatively short time,  the polished finish will 'shrink back' enough to reveal the pore structure of the wood.  If you look carefully at photos on the internet, of high gloss finishes on wood,  often this can be seen.      Catalyzed polyester is a difficult finish to use,very similar in many ways to automotive finishes.  The actual material is less expensive,  but the labor is considerably more with polyester, so do not expect a price difference.   The thickness of a polyester finish is completely dependent on the skill  /intent of the finisher.    We love automotive finishes,  but for wood,  polyester rules.   The gloss is better, mainly due to the micro structure of the material, and how it polishes. With automotive urethane,  even with the best, most clear, most expensive clears, the annoying micro-scratch 'swirlies' from dusting, or even touching the finish when silica containing dust settles on the surface, are much more frequent and significant, than with polished catalyzed polyester.   Polyester is a much harder finish, mostly impervious to moisture and chemical exposure.   In the case of 'candied' finishes, (tinted clears over metallic base as an example) automotive urethanes give more control over color, and so, are a better choice.  Polyester can be used as a top coat for automotive base colors, metallics, and pearls.   For the best, most durable polished gloss finishes,  there is a reason why the best grand piano makers use polyester.  
  I am a master finisher with more than 30 years of professional, high end finishing experience, mainly with high gloss, high end finishes. It is possible to make an argument in favor of any of these finishes.  Personally,  I like all of them in different instances.  Most people will recommend the finish that they are comfortable using.   If you are considering a plinth finished in high gloss clear over wood,  research finish options in order to have an independent, informed opinion.  You might ask yourself why catalyzed polyester is used on $175K Grand Pianos....      
In the world of wood finishing,  with some exceptions, the very highest quality level of finishing is on instrument finishing, on the highest end guitars, and on the best pianos.
 
We often have Garrard 301 motor units available,  should you need one.  Please inquire, if so.    
 
This listing is for reference only.  Please contact us directly for a current timeline and additional options.    

We offer full restoration services for the Garrards and Thorens TD124, including metal linkage plating and show quality automotive chassis painting/ polishing using top line PPG finishing systems.   
   
We also offer a full line of audio products which we like and recommend, including tonearms, cartridges, phono stages, electronics, speakers, cables, etc.    
 
For our plinths,  all of the creation takes place 'in house', allowing superb consistency and great scrutiny in quality control, as well as a compettitive pricing structure.   With extreme artistry, we utilize state of the art tooling and CNC engineering where applicable.

We ship worldwide.     
 
Please contact us directly for further information.

Thank you.     
 
Chris Harban    

Woodsong Audio 

www.woodsongaudio.com   
01+1+208.304.0973