Custom wood ends for the Solaris

[wsequeira]

Hi Folks,

Just replaced my Solaris' wood ends with custom rustic walnut ends made by Dennis Chenoweth ( http://www.custommade.com/by/customboxes). Thought I would pass it along in case any of you feel like customizing your Solaris. Dennis is a great guy to work with and can do about most anything you ask. This was the second project I did with him and highly recommend him to all of you.

[John Bowen]

Bill, can you give an idea of the cost to have something like this done?

[wsequeira]

These wood ends in rustic walnut where circa $40 not including shipping. They are also an inch thick, 30% thicker than the stock ends as I wanted to convey weight and substance while still using the standard fasteners. Dennis can make them using any kind of wood available, albeit at a price point commensurate with the cost of the wood chosen.

Very hard to find wordsmiths with great art and craft, creativity and brains, who can produce great stuff at a reasonable price point and do it fast. He also made a superb enclosure for a Serge Kraken of mine, equally impressive and well priced too. I am not associated with him, just an extremely satisfied customer. His email address is dchenoweth@charter.net in case you prefer to contact him directly.

[John Bowen]

In the beginning, I had a number of wood sides made to see if it was viable to offer some nice custom options, and these examples were also a bit thinker than what we ship with now, so I can appreciate what you did there (although, I don't think they were a full 1 inch thick). I was getting them done by synthwood.com, but he has been fully occupied with other things, and I think is no longer doing any woodwork, so it's really nice to have another option now for Solaris owners!

What I can do is publish the old photos I made if I can find them, showing a few different wood choices, in the event owners would like to contact Dennis to do this work.

Thanks for posting, Bill!

[jazzbo58]

Those ends look great!

Cheers,
Jim

[wsequeira]

....8<....I was getting them done by synthwood.com, but he has been fully occupied with other things, and I think is no longer doing any woodwork, so it's really nice to have another option now for Solaris owners!

What I can do is publish the old photos I made if I can find them, showing a few different wood choices, in the event owners would like to contact Dennis to do this work.

Thanks for posting, Bill!

You are welcome. I didn't have good luck with synthwood.com in the past, so I felt very lucky to run into Dennis.

[wsequeira]

Those ends look great!

They're even better in person - sometimes the light doesn't help capture all the nuances of wood.

[John Bowen]

Well, I never did find any photos from way back when I had synthwood make me some side panels, but I did contact Dennis Chenoweth, asking if he could send out any additional pictures. It turns out he has a set of beautiful ornate walnut sides ready for purchase. Here's additional information from Dennis:

These end pieces are 13/16 inch thick. I include a matching set of wooden plugs to seal the mounting holes. Finishing can be done with glossy, semi-gloss, satin, or natural wax finish. I've priced these at $40.00.

First is the ornate walnut set:

Ornate walnut end pieces.jpg (145.45 KiB) Viewed 37814 times

Also, here's an order he did with what he calls 'rustic walnut':

Rustic walnut Solaris end pieces.jpg (156.37 KiB) Viewed 37814 times

He also does a wide variety of other woodworking projects, so please let him know if you are interested in having some custom side panels done (or anything else, for that matter!):
http://www.custommade.com/by/customboxes/

[synthwalker]

Rustic walnut is on its way to my Solaris, John...
I'll post here some photos as soon as I have them installed.
I think they'll better match the Matrix-12 ends here...

[marzzz]

Hmmmm.....I wonder what would go well with a dark Solaris?

[Hein Eken]

Hmmmm.....I wonder what would go well with a dark Solaris?

carbonized wood



H.

[jaykeel]

Love your set up! Tell me, How does the Solaris compare to the OB-X? It's the one synth of my dreams that I never owned. When I was buying the Solaris, I had the chance to buy a very nice 8 Voice OB-X for about 5K here in the US that had just been totally restored. I still wonder from time to time, (like now) if I made the right choice.

Love how have them set up too.!

[synthwalker]

OB-X is far more immediate, everything you program sounds so well. But it is limited to pads / strings / brass / organs.
Solaris needs more work but the sounds complexity + quality you can get from it is second to none.

[synthwalker]

Here are the wood ends Dennis made for me. He also provided wood caps to put in the screw holes, but I prefer them as is.