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Friday, June 13, 2025

Finely tuning The Peak 13” 💫

 


When only the best does 😉











The first orgasm… aehm: disc? Gnu High on ECM 💫




Early-morning job: tuning my arm VTF, VTA, overhang and… WTF 😏😉😏 it needs to make the DST15 IceAge tracking at its very best…

… and Misho’s Audio Antiquary Phono-Stage is singing like a blackbird in springtime with crystal clear voice!




Tasting & testing for the first time my friend Marco’s high-density isostatic-graphite clamp… very different sounding from my 1800 grams bronze/ebony massive clamp 🥇.

Cannot but thinking how I resisted for one year without my beloved vinyl-discs and this sound ☺️

Curtains 💎

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Tim de Paravicini’s The Head P52 Phono Box 💫

 


I only read - never saw one in person, almost doubting it really existed - about this extremely elusive piece of gear, when back in the ‘80s, Sandro Ruggeri, one of my early inspirations and an awesome audio reviewer at Stereoplay magazine, was using it as his absolute reference paired with The Head TX-4 MC transformer.

Hand-made in St. Ives, Cornwall, this golden-faced bullion represented TdP’s peak in phono design for years to come: the “phono box” moniker was used for years to indicate a phono-only preamp also under later EAR - Esoteric Audio Research brand-name.





A few days ago, by absolute chance, I came across this humble gizmo and simply couldn’t resist… first listening soon, after some necessary checking (and sourcing that missing hex-screw) 🍀

Cannot imagine a better way to honor TdP’s memory and heritage, missed and never forgotten, as preserving his unique gears from oblivion… like an imaginary museum of his creation 

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Thursday, June 12, 2025

Garrardzilla is back 💫

 


Always the same and different, at same time, after the twelve months in storage-mode: the 13” Peak arm and Analogtechnik DST15 IceAge and TdP’s The Head TX-4 SUT, now not hidden in the back… the 110 kg slate base isn’t installed, yet, for logistical reasons.

The 13,5 kg bronze-platter was carefully cleaned with isopropyl-alcohol to maintain the smoothly aged, fingerprints-free surface; the 2,8 kg Micro CU-800 gunmetal “mat” was placed on-top and the Jean Hiraga piglet mat refined the combo.









… and now: music! I’ve dozens of discs bought and not listened, yet ☺️




This sounds like an admission of guilt 😉

 






Joe Boyd and Nick Drake 💫

 


Joe Boyd, was a well-known figure in "Swingin' London" in the mid-to-late 1960s, among the founders of the UFO Club in London and later known as a producer of British rock, folk and folk rock artists such as Martin Carthy, John Martyn, Pink Floyd, Soft Machine, Richard Thompson, The Incredible String Band, Fairport Convention...

He left America after attending Dylan's legendary electric concert in Newport, considered one of the turning points of music in the Sixties, and settled in the United Kingdom as a talent scout on the payroll of Elektra Records.

An entrepreneur with a decidedly uncommon creative vision, capable, together with the artists and bands he collaborated with, of imagining and creating a mosaic of bold and original musical projects, creating new sounds and styles.

Despite all this enormous skill and experience, when Boyd saw Nick Drake at work for the first time, he was speechless, incredulous in front of so much genius, almost in devout awe.



A young Joe Boyd and late Nick Drake at Witchseason’s offices in London: Nick’s handling Fairport Convention’s Full House 💫

Admiration and deep respect, which pushed the American producer to work with Nick in the making of the first two albums, Five Leaves Left and Bryter Layter.

Commitment to promoting Drake's crystalline talent, which Boyd continued to consistently carry forward even after the premature death of the artist from Tanworth-in-Arden, beyond beyond until the deserved "success"...




Wednesday, June 11, 2025

Brian Wilson passed, today 🌸

 


… and “that” endless summer is over 😢





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Music 💫

 


"Music is not something we invented... Birds that sing, thunder that rumbles, the sea that moves, leaves that vibrate make music.

The universe is not silent. The universe sings. The planets, the stars, have a sound.

 A celestial music.

 I have always thought of these sounds as rays, which pass through the heavens and living bodies. 

Those who are most struck by these sound rays have the most intense musical nature. 

Some are deaf. Others, like Mozart, are pierced by them. Perhaps this explains their early deaths".


Maestro Riccardo Muti, from an interview in “Corriere della Sera”


Art by Zdzisław Beksiński




Stare into the void and see through time…

 


A Sonatron 245 mesh-plate triode

Thanks to my pal Nate Grindheim for his absolute eye into a world of naivety and perfection… 




… sadly long gone ☺️





Sunday, June 8, 2025

Gotorama 2.0 💫

 




First drawings… side view: the drivers holder-tower will be plywood reinforced with aluminum T-bars 

I swear I’ll try to avoid any (excessive) mess, using ropes or (too) stoopid solutions 😉





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Just found the most sought-after Ogun’s 🍀

 


Better: the last disc missing to complete my Ogun label collection (on vinyl)!





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Saturday, June 7, 2025

Mr. Natural sez 💫

 



Thanking Robert Crumb for his art 💫



Waiting for new Gotorama 💫

 


While having the new Gotorama drivers/horns array bespoke-built ready, I’m enjoying the honest, dynamic and smooth sound of Tandberg 114-116-8 (1969 vintage) with its coaxial Alnico loudspeaker.






It’s truly surprising what these old boxes are able to give in terms of detailing and timbre… mounted apparently wrong (horizontally) on apparently wrong Foundation Design stands with Bluetak, the combo is bolted to the floor and the sound with ReVox A-40 integrated amp (1961 vintage) and Studer A730 disk-player makes the wait to enjoy again the glory of Gotorama less heavy.

An humble suggestion - enjoy what you have and learn how to make these amazing old stuffs sound magical instead of compulsively change gears over gears 

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Perfection in an imperfect world 💫

 



Still with its original Telefunken VF14 tube ☺️



Wednesday, June 4, 2025

The Garrardzilla is back on duty 💫

 







Handling this 75 kilos beast isn’t for all… yet, I look forward having it singing, soon 🍀




Johnny Cash’s Wilkanowski 💫💫💫

 


Johnny Cash's Wilkanowski & Son's Guitar…. sold at the Johnny Cash estate auction by Sotheby's in 2004.





William Wilkanowski (born 1886) was a Polish-American violin-maker.


Wilkanowski was born in Poland in 1886. By the age of 17 he was a trained violin maker. After going to the United States, he worked in the shops of Ditson (Boston) and Fred Gretsch (New York City).


He was listed as a violin maker in Brooklyn by 1933, although at least one violin made in Brooklyn dates to 1924. From 1937 to 1941, he worked in both an era and a location renowned for the jazz guitar. Gretsch offered Wilkanowski's work in a 1940 flyer with the text "his own personal work…no other hand touches them." His violins were offered from $50–150.


Wilkanowski is thought to have produced 5,000 violins and 100 violas by 1942.  Some of the higher quality violins were marked with a W inlay; these instruments are thought to be entirely of his own making, while many of the others were made in the shops with assistants. The Gretsch Company released the Synchromatic line during the early '40s also, which were also archtop guitars, but shared no other similarities with Wilkanowski guitars. His role in the Synchromatic is not known.

Although known for his violins, Wilkanowski also produced a limited number of archtop guitars. By 1942 he had sold 30 of these instruments, each unique in appointments and features, at $400 each. This price was in line with what was being charged for a D’Angelico New Yorker, or a Gibson Guitar Corporation Super 400. There is no evidence of instruments made by Wilkanowski after 1943.


Most of the Wilkanowski guitars adhere to a standard shape. A few guitars do not adhere to the cello shape, but rather a more conventional archtop shape, without the cello-like points above the waist. The Wilkanowski headstock is thought to have been the main influence in the headstock for the current Ovation Guitar. The flattened oval was the standard shape on most guitars, although some featured a violin like scroll. The backs of most were one piece of flamed maple (actually, the wood is often Po Valley Poplar, a figured cello tonewood that can resemble maple.)[ with no center joint. 


The finishing techniques included very light stain, or a violin color finish, and light sealer. The multiple layer binding was wooden, something fairly innovative at the time, and was raised above the level of the top and back plates. The f holes varied by instrument, standard shape, segmented, and later more modern cutouts appeared. Some of the Instruments displayed the name AIRWAY, some had a W on the headstock, and some remained unbranded. Some of the guitars carry serial numbers, a signature, or a label. Several are labeled Wilkanowski and Son, although nothing is known of the son's responsibility. 


One bearing this label was sold at the Johnny Cash estate auction by Sotheby's in 2004.




Sunday, June 1, 2025

Friday, May 30, 2025

Sunday, May 25, 2025

Q - what’s joy?

 


A - singin’-along your fave songs ✅




A sort-of private karaoke… something - I noticed - I only do when an astral coincidence happens: right mood, decent health, no technical issues whatsoever… and music is perceived at a 2.0 level of satisfaction, sweet like a nectar.

I missed “this” nectar for 12 long months… I knew and my pain was my pain was sincere and palpable: I felt like I was living a movie without a soundtrack, like I was constantly wearing glasses with gray lenses and, I swear: today a lazy, feint, bashful tear moistened my eyes ☺️

Satori 💫 

Thanks to Michael Franks’ “Passion Fruit” 💎



Only gears?

 


I’m in the lengthy process of awakening my gears after an years-long storage…


A bit of apprehension and the behemoths - the mighty Studer C37, the MCI JH110B and the Telefunken M15A - were carefully checked and turned ON.





My wife impeccable good taste for composition 💫

The emotion - Yes, emotion! - I felt when the machines began spinning, again… the smell of rubber and warming-up electronics with a bit of motor-oil scent, well: I truly felt blessed and experienced a stooopid, so pleasant sense of inexplicable unreasonable happiness ☺️

These music-machines own a soul 

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