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It's a small and crazy world! Many of you know that I've semi-retired as a Carpenter, and am working at a Lumber Yard/Hardware store here in Fairfax, CA. I help a lot of Contractors locally, and being a small town, many have heard of my work, because of Jack Irving, who I worked with on Al's house years back. Some that I'm close to have seen pics of many of my past projects. Today I got a call from an older, local Contractor/Musician (there are many in the area). He was at Linda Ronstadt's house in San Francisco yesterday. He's been her Contractor and her friend for decades. She was telling him about some bookshelves that she saw at a bookstore in the Sunset district. She wanted to know if he could build some like them? So they went to look them over. Upon arriving, the store owner recognized Linda and struck up a conversation. Linda explained how she loved the custom shelving. The owner told her about the man that built them, but that he wasn't working with the same Contractor anymore. She showed Linda more of his work at the bookstore, and then invited them to her house a few blocks away for lunch, and to see all of the custom work he'd done there. During lunch she informed her that she still had his phone number and said she'd call to see if it was OK to give it out. In doing so she mentioned his full name. Her Contractor and friend Andy Giddings said "wait, I know him, he works at the lumber counter of my local lumber yard". Today Andy Giddings got my number from my employers after explaining the story, and he called me to tell me that Linda Rondstadt would love to have me build her some bookshelves, and maybe more. He told me that I was going to love her, and she me. We talked about possibly working together on that project. He was also impressed with my work. It's a funny world. I'm not actively seeking weekend projects, but who's going to turn down Linda Ronstadt?

For those of you so inclined.....my nephew (niece's husband) Chris is in Russia (Kazakhstan) now, and he will be launching EARLY local time on a Soyuz rocket to go to the ISS!!! Streaming is available at https://plus.nasa.gov/ 3 highlights (times are EST):

While being stuck home, recovering for the past two weeks, I finally got round to doing some more DIY electrostatic headphones. I wanted to try out some different materials, 2um mylar and Comfort fabric softener to do the resistive coating. I must say both worked well and if the Comfort stuff holds up long term, it is a damn good coating that costs pretty much nothing. First off my long standing test drivers in a Superlux HD330 housing... as I had some donor headphones in stock. I made a few of these but this set has the Stax wide PC-OCC cable and Dekoni Fostex hybrid pads. I've made so many of these drivers over the years that they are a good benchmark and they perform flawlessly. Charge up instantly, no charge migration or issue with humidity that I can detect. The drivers are also modular so easy to assemble and test: I didn't even spring for ENIG on these but yeah, super simple design that just slots into the Supelux housing. They are just a bit on the small side for my head and the partially closed housing has issues but it's a fun set to play with. Next up is a set of SR-5's that had severe imbalance. Time for a new set of diaphragms with the thicker spacers I made 10 years ago or. I simply replace the stock diaphragm and this converts them to Pro bias too. Throw on there an old Lambda cable which had a break at the cable entry and it's a great little set of headphones. I love the SR-X Mk3 drivers and they are fun to play with. It is a bit challenging to fit the thicker spacers into the normal bias housings as it can warp the drivers but not a big deal really. Then I put on some leather earpads from my stash and yeah, a great SR-5 Pro... something Stax really should have sold back in the day. While I was making the diapgragms for those SR-5's, I made a couple of more for a spare set of drivers which resulted in this: I'm always on the lookout for cheap open back headphones which can be "easily" turned into electrostatics. This is a Fiio JT1 which was less than 60$ shipped but is not ideal for the conversion as the baffle is not flat due to how the earpads are mounted. Still nothing a circular saw can't fix: I covered the stock holes with tape to seal the baffle and keep the glue out when I fitted the driver: The PU two part adhesive covers all the baffle vents and I put some tape on the earpad attachment points to just keep the glue out of them. Worked just fine and the seal is great No damping at the back and they are open enough. I fitted strain reliefs at the cable entry and plugs to seal off the top vents in the housing as well. This one has the stock earpads and the cable is the standard silicone 6 core stuff floating around with an aluminum cable splitter for the Y split and a prototype plug I was sent a while back. Pretty nice sounding set of headphones that don't cost a lot to make. Granted you need a SR-X Mk3 to donate the drivers and some custom spacers to make it work but I'd want to make something like this with custom drivers. It would be a great DIY project to release, buy this set of headphones, rip out its guts and make your own drivers from these PCB's. The cable is easy to source, so are the cable entry glands and a Stax plug can be 3D printed with basic XLR housings. Finally, a bit of a closure for me with what is probably the final version of the HD580/600/650 electrostatic conversion above. I was always battling baffle leaks on those as it is impossible to shave the stock baffle completely flat. I might try to laser cut a neoprene gasket or something like that but on this one I simply designed a new protection grill and glued that to the baffle. Not ideal but it works nicely. Then new stators and new spacers for the diaphragms and dust covers. The cable is the King Sound KS-H4 unit so it is removable. I just shaved down the socket a bit and glued it into the stock holes. The protection grill which is glued to the baffle. Earpads are the hybrid units Drop used to sell and then sheepskin headpad. New stators with full ENIG plating and purple solder mask because reasons. :) These do sound great if I dare say so myself, very much on par with the HE60 but with a fuller sound. Same spacing at 0.5mm so sensitivity is very close too to stock Senn units. Funny for me as the HD600 was my first ever high end set of headphones, so when I found this set with broken drivers it was an ideal candidate for conversion. Full circle and all that shit...

Had dinner with @cetoole and @MexicanDragon, who graciously drove out to meet me in Lake Forest Park. I am also convinced Seattle is entirely too cold for me. Get me back to sunny California!

Bourbon pecan pie.

Congrats to Chris! Perfect launch.* *to time with my middle of the night switch from legs to breasts in the sous vide.

Fuck it. I made a full batch. Cheers Matt!

It’s still rocking. I just released the hookers and blow into the 6th floor.

Starting to look the part!

Got a ride with the ANG two weeks ago to check out our remote project site in what southerners call Northern Maine (Bangor area). They had an issue with the first aircraft, but thankfully had a spare, and the delayed departure made for a convenient return time.

Indeed!! My mom said his kids took it hard when he left for the rocket but were excited to see him in the ISS itself.

Well, nothing has happened yet except a phone call from another Contractor. But I'm excited just to meet her. I watched her documentary a little while back and was even more intrigued with her life than previously. I'd be extremely honored to build anything for her, but there are some time hurdles to jump over before anything is going to happen. Still, I can't imagine not jumping a few hurdles to make this happen.

The funny thing is, I don't really find those bookshelves to be anything special. But people like what they like. But the bookstore owner is one of my favorite past clients. She and I collaborated on many of the things I built at her stunning $8,000,000 home. It's literally across the street from the ocean on the Great Highway. The bookstore she owns is a coffee shop as well, where I was awarded free coffee for life.🙂 It was my first big project after the pandemic, and she told my boss that on that project I would be her employee, so that we didn't have to run our ideas through the company. She paid me more than I made with the company, and we only grew closer in that time period.

I just got a colnago c50 with super record 11, but no pictures until Christmas because it’s under the proverbial tree.

Arrived

"I inherited my late father-in-law's system and need some guidance." says a redditor. The system: Some father-in-law. I married the wrong woman. "Knuckles, you're not married." That's besides the point!

This is just plain beautiful! All pales in comparison 💕

Within my PLOWED whisky group we have an annual gathering called Ardbeggeddon (which some know about). It takes place in an undisclosed location. Many years ago this became known as "Dick Cheney's Secret Bunker" as a joke for posting purposes. I have proposed to the group that the location should be changed to "Dick Cheney's Crypt".

Glad that you got to see Colin.

Jumpstarted the holiday cheer (winterless necessity) with a trip to lights.

Thanks Ric! Something was meant to be, we had a power blip at ~3:45am EST and my alarm keypad beeping woke me up. Managed to watch the launch as well! Time for caffeine....a whole fucking bunch of it! 🤣 Have a 3.5-4 hour (if I'm lucky) drive in a bit.....

Bit excessive but I got an unworn Platona from EWC. Traded the Lange 1815 Chrono and a couple of other watches I wasn't wearing much. We're all going to die soon, might as well enjoy it. IDK?

Went to hear Wynton tonite .. spotted Paul Simon in the crowd

As for me... played with my kids all day (my back is broken from sitting on the floor). Rachel is helping her Parents move all weekend, so I'm solo. Just ate dinner and am cleaning up. May stream later, but may be too tired. Not a bad day, but no fucking 'contacted by Linda Rondsadt's people' kind of day, haha.

A few worthy photos from CAF this weekend…

Thanks all. Hope all is well with everyone! Trying to start a program related to my headphone correction research back in the day actually.

Decided to have a go at Chicken Korma. Bites while seasoning were pretty great. Naan is staying warm in the oven to go alongside.

When I was a kid my Mom made the same Thanksgiving dishes every year. One of them was green bean casserole. Probably like many of your Moms made too. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it either. Canned green beans, French's fried onions and cream of mushroom soup. Like many vegetables and other dishes of my childhood I didn't know that I liked them until I was living on my own and tasted the fresh version. So I thought the concept (Trump joke) of green bean casserole was good. But what if it was elevated to using fresh ingredients? So today I set out to test that theory. I trimmed and sautéed about 3 pounds of green beans. Then sliced and sautéed a large amount of mushrooms in butter and white wine. I decided that making my own fried onions might not be worth the extra effort, so French's fried onions it was. In place of cream of mushroom soup, I used cream of celery soup, as I like the flavor better and had already incorporated fresh mushrooms into the dish. I have enough for a small army, as I had planned to take this to Al's before catching a cold. How is it? Well it has about 15 more minutes to bake, so I'll let you know later. You can't tell, but there are two layers of everything in the dish.

Hope you feel better soon.

A slightly different kind of speaker porn. In the early 90s I was prone to spacing out and doodling in class, in stead of doing what I was supposed to be doing. This pattern explains a lot about ...everything that has followed since. A month or so ago I was going through some of the myriad of paperwork that made it with me from the mainland. In it I found a really old school notebook. Most of it was fantastically uninteresting (I have not cared about the Sumerians for 35 years and counting) but I did find one page that had some amusing doodles on it: We've got a couple cars, an attempt at a Roland TB-303 Bassline, what might be a Marshall half stack and ...two attempts at one very iconic speaker design. That's a Legacy Audio Whisper. I was one of the cool kids, I tell you.

Some 18s:)...Don't know how Juan's celebratin'...

I'm afraid it'll start talking to me if I open it up... But perhaps there's a science project in my future to see what happens when I do.

Great shots. Back from another PhotoFair, just throw shit on the table edition. Also their 50th anniversary. I was good and only bought two $5 “tabletop” old tripods (the only type I seem to use anymore). That justifies buying the ridiculous new lens I really want, right?

Happy shared birthday Chris. Happy smoked salmon to me. opened a half bottle that has been kicking around for a couple decades. 1968 BV Burgundy cheers

The New AirPods Pro 3 are night-and-day better than the previous generation in sound, fit and seal (for me). Absolute no brainer upgrade.

A breakfast almost worthy of a Grehaem. Venison snausage and bacon hiding in the periphery. I would also like to note that this is what happens when you give the humble potato to the French. 🫣

But hopefully not too far in the evening. https://theonion.com/astronaut-hates-long-nightly-spacewalk-to-iss-outhouse/

I, ahem, like to sing sea shanties, so I cheerfully pay for Proton VPN. Don't let the UK government back you into a corner!

That's awesome! Congrats to him on being the furthest from Trump one can get.

Zero Mattnog posts since 2023. What a sad state of affairs. I was just reminded that I failed to make a batch again and I am disappoint in myself. Anybody else make some or still have some in the back of the fridge? Is a month enough time for it to gel?

I'm not ready for a new espresso machine as the Lelit Bianca I bought some years ago is still doing a great job, but I found an announcement from Fellow interesting. I bought a Fellow Aiden I have been enjoying thanks to @luvdunhill , and have been receiving Fellow marketing emails. Here is an early review for the curious. I have to admit it piqued my interest, particularly how quickly it heats up. Looks like it can be bought for $1200 with an early discount and they toss in a credit for coffee beans. https://www.engadget.com/home/kitchen-tech/the-espresso-series-1-is-the-new-crown-jewel-in-fellows-coffee-gadget-lineup-170008473.html HS

She sure is, Key-Lime Pie Girl and I have been together since then. Good memory! Rachel remembers you as well and was part of the push for me reaching out to Renato et al. and coming back here. Takes good care of me. We actually got married recently as she wanted her Dad to walk her down the aisle (he has Parkinsons).

vinyl

Superb sound quality, especially for a live show. Barber isn't the only star of the show. The band is amazing, especially on Black Magic Woman. The guitar solo on that song is like some Allan Holdsworth shit, the percussion kicks in and none of it is lost in the crowd who show appreciation. Ex.

Famous Blue Raincoat. Songs of Leonard Cohen by Jennifer Warnes (1986) https://open.qobuz.com/album/0826663104905 Example: Very well recorded Jennifer.

Using a Star Wars reference Dick Cheney is/was Emperor Palpatine (Darth Sideous), Rumsfeld was Darth Vader and Trump is Kylo Ren (A pale imitation wannabe of Vader). Just Sayin’