RAP : I didn't had the time to look for the top plate so I will use some temporaty baltic birsh.

I will call some place tomorow to see how much it would cost me.

The other solution is solid 1" mahogany wood (around 60$ for the twos)

60$ more or less... just the veneer cost me around 300$

I found a piece of solid mahogany 15" 1/2 wide, 1.25" thick by 84" long. premium quality.

But my question is, will it keep it's form once planed and sanded or it will twist in a couple of months.

Thanks for the help, it's suppose to be premium quality but I will go see this by myself.

I called for granit or marble and it's arround 200$ for the marble and 260$ for the granit.

Pretty expensive.

With the 84" long mahogany I can make 2 top plate but also two buttom plate. It would be really nice I think.

Tonigh I applied a second layer of gel coating after a little sanding of the first layer. It look even greater now.

Not sure if I will use 3-4 layer and after that I will apply some oil (probably parafin or baby oil).

BTW My idea would also include laminating a piece of appropriatly contoured 1/8" or 1/4" thick black "Sintra". It is a sign making plastic sheet that is available at any local sign shop and is inexpensive and easy to cut and sand. Glued to the bottom of the brass top plate with a thin coat of urethane based adhesive any ringing tendencies of the brass would be soundly, silenced.

[quote author=franksmith  link=1138234258/15#22 date=1138735519]Thanks for the offer Chris but I would prefer finished granit for mass loading, concidering the price.



[/quote]

Well I understand what you mean  Frank, but I priced 3/4" Brass plate new and it turns out to be only available as naval (red) brass and it is in the neighborhood of $7-$9/pound. At 90 lbs. for (2) pieces 13.5"x13.5" if you can even find it that thick on the used market I got it for under $3/pound. It took me over a year to find a single piece on EBay that would yield two pieces big enough for HDT top plates. No salvage yard around here has ever seen a piece this big. Turns out I got a piece big enough to get 3 sets of HDT top plate out and leftovers for feet "pucks" or other decorative trim. The piece I have would have cost $3K + or - a few hundred if it was new. It aint gold (well it is) but it seems like it when you spend hard cash for it. I will likely have to hear the MkII to see if I want to do a build of it with the brass top plate and polished brass tube quarter round corner capping (1" radii). This is a serious back burner project considering what I have coming up.

PS granite is not nearly as heavy is it?

Here they are ready to go home with me tonight.

I still have works to do like top plates, a base, hiding the wood in the ports ...

But this will give you an idea

So how do they sound to you?

I will give comment on the sound soon, I want to  live with them for somes times before.

For now I really like them, I'm listening to the music instead of focusing on the caracteristics which is a very good hint of their qualities.

The cones are like them when ordered from decware, they are suppose to be coated but I don't have clues that they are.

Like discussed before, decware can't gel wax them anymore because of the new cone material or something like this. I'm not sure that the gel waxing was the major factor of the alternative tuning having heard the original ones.