EXPERT JUNIOR - 16/17 Dec

[OrthoFan]

...Polishing, gloss painting or a bright surface finish on the inside of any gramophone horn is disastrous acoustically which I found to my cost twenty-five years ago when playing my first EMG (Mk IX)....

I found the same to be true when, at the insisting suggestion of a sound box restorer, I painted the inside of my Consolette's wooden horn with an epoxy polymer varnish--plastic laminate--to make it absolutely resistant to vibration and improve the horn's overall sound quality. That was about 35 years ago; I was still pretty new to the hobby, and a mere tot. (That's my story and I'm stickin' to it!)

The results were HORRIBLE! There was no depth, no mid-range, the treble was shrill and the surface noise was greatly amplified. Fortunately, I was able to easily remove the coating using Jasco paint & varnish remover. (The coating literally cracked and popped off the wood's surface.) I then applied some penetrating oil stain to the bare wood's surface, and the sound quality returned to what it had been before.

OrthoFan