[Andrew Barss]

wrote:

: Shouldn't be an issue. Wood is a pretty common material used in audio
: and even in Turntables. If it is propperly dried and sealed it will be
: quite stable enough. I think some of them look pretty cool. It looks
: like they just strip down existing rigs and rebuild them on decorative
: wood plinths.

The amount of warpage due to drying, and seasonal shifts in
size and shape due to humidity swings, is pretty substantial, actually.
(I'm a woodworker). Some of those turntables had the platter and
the tonearm mounted to the wood planks, and over time one can
expect up to about 1/4" of shift in the distance between them,
and some angular shift as well (R. Bruce Hoadley's
reference book on wood will give exact figures for different species). This
means the geometry of both the tonearm and the needle with respect to the
groove in the vinyl are going to change a *lot*, relatively speaking.

The only way to seal against this is to encase the wood in about a
half inch of wax.

-- Andy Barss