Console armrest - material selection

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boji

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Jan 6, 2010
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Location
Maryland, USA
Been meaning to ask: Any of you mixer hounds spare me a moment and share your preference for armrest material?

Was thinking of going the exotic route, something like tigerwood, or a fancy teak...but perhaps it would be wiser to keep it domestic- certainly cheaper! Something like basswood? Or perhaps padded upholstery is your thing?

Your recommendations on type and/or finish would be of help.

Thanks!
 
I must admit I have a proclivity for padded rests, covered in tolex, particularly  in seafoam green, which is admittedly not to everyone's taste!  ;D
There are also more discrete designs, such as cowhide or zebra skin.  ;)
 
Maybe wooden side cheeks , but definately padded arm rest . If you have an old leather coat you could use that cut into strips to cover the arm rest.
 
I agree, padded arm rest everytime. On large desks, Neve often had to stitch a couple of pieces of leather together. This was not good enough for The Who when I designed their Ramport Studio behemoth. They wanted a single piece of leather. Have you ever tried to find a 22ft cow?

Cheers

Ian
 
Thanks gents

Surprised padding was choice!  Given me pause, as upholstery isn't that difficult using semi-stretchable material.
 
Back In Ye Olde Daze <g> I spent so much time behind a desk, and I cannot imagine not having a padded armrest below the faders. 

The desk I designed/built back in 1977 had leather with padding beneath.  In slightly more recent times, I wondered about using denim instead!  I have old Levis that might work if you find a seamstress <g>.

Bri
 
Definitely padded!

I tend to prefer real leather to skai or other alternatives, especially when it gets hot...

I'm currently building a daw controller and am aiming for a padded armrest with slides to gost the keyboard underneath. (In the same way they designed the grand ma 2 armrest).

Cheers!

Thomas
 
we used our local auto-interior-fixup-shop for both designing and maintaining the leather armrests on our huge desks in the good-old-days. Material and padding was the stuff for (nicelydone) auto seats. Those people seem to interface to complex requirements easily, taking load off your designing skills..

/Jakob E.
 
ruffrecords said:
I agree, padded arm rest everytime. On large desks, Neve often had to stitch a couple of pieces of leather together. This was not good enough for The Who when I designed their Ramport Studio behemoth. They wanted a single piece of leather. Have you ever tried to find a 22ft cow?

Cheers

Ian

I just had (admittedly disturbing) visions of skinning a cow in a spiral.  I'm sure you could get a 22' strip that way!

I think I need a drink.
 
We used to call that a wrist rest... wood form with soft padding, then tolex or naugahyde pulled tight and stapled on... If you design it well the staples are concealed when attached. 

JR
 
Boji,

For the masterpiece that you are constructing, how could consider putting anything other than Rich Corinthian Leather?  Ok, well, regular leather would do just as well.

In all seriousness, for an API type console, you HAVE TO GO with leather.  Nothing finer, nothing better, nothing lasts as long. 

You're building a Rolls Royce, why would you put Yugo tires on it?

Now get off my lawn!
 
Last week a friend of mine send me a pic of his elbow with this big red swollen egg on it  :eek:

That was the result of a 16 hour workday on a broadcast desk in a small van and not having a padded armrest.

So I say padded, and I'd go for leather.

A friend of mine had some done by a shop that does saddles and all this horse stuff and they did an absolute exellent job on that.
 
Yes, if I was to choose (for a studio desk) then padded leather on a piece of wood would be the best option.

You basically need two pieces of wood, one that holds the arm rest and the other attached below it (where the staples are, like a sandwich) unless you find a better solution.

I did a mixing booth with carpeting and getting the staples covered is indeed a tricky part. With thick carpet it isn't much of a problem as long as you get them punched in deep enough.

Then I started working on a console frame (like 12-16ch) and the padding was styrofoam covered with leather I cut from a pair of pants (it had a seam or two iirc, and I never got around to attaching it "properly", or adding the extra piece of wood as for that matter)

The thing with "real" leather is you can keep it clean and shiny with detergents but it smells kind of weird (think of a new car scent).. fake/synthetic leather is much cheaper though and doesn't necessarily come with seams but is prone to ripping (ie. it's like rubber, Latex etc), the thin, small pattern one I wouldn't recommend either because of the obvious wear and tear (the stuff they use to make wallets etc) but the heavier/thicker it is is the more it's likely to cost so keep that in mind when assessing prices (I was once asking for fake leather yard prices, ~120cm wide 3mm medium thick cost like 30eur and upwards per meter, there were a couple of colour choices though like bright red etc which is the main advantage of it I think)

The problem with padding is you can't properly glue it in place along with the carpeting (and you're well on your way to build a sofa)

If it's a touring/live console then I'd either leave the arm rest out or use a synthetic material like Tolex (and you don't really need one in desks smaller than 19")

You could also consult companies that make computer mouse mats if they have some sort of modern solution but unfortunately custom stuff usually comes with a price (the results could be amazing though)
 
Could anyone point me in the direction to get some instructions to remove the original wrist rest to add a custom one? Thanks for any info, i am trying to get an old studio up and running again
 
Oh I apologize.r for some reason I thought this said it was a control 24 thread and now I am seeing it is not.
No problem. <g> I am an Olde Phart and much more familiar with large format analog desks, so can only suggest trying to determine how to remove the lower section(s) with the faders/master/etc and look beneath.

Most of the "classic" desks used bolts or screws to attach the armrest to the frame, but that hardware would only be visible when faders (or entire modules) were removed from the frame.

I have only seen a few control 24 desks in a working studio, so no clues how that frame is assembled.

Bri
 
Thank you for your reply! I am starting to think it would be a much bigger hassle to try to remove the original than just to build one over it
 
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