A visit with the cabinetmaker
Last Friday, I posted about building a hardwood cabinet for the Ceriatone DC30. At the time, I email four local cabinetmakers to see if they would be interested in such a small, specialized job. I received two emails back—one from The Hat Factory Furniture Co., saying they couldn’t take on the job because of their workload, and one from Al Shurtleff asking if I would give him a call to discuss what I had in mind. I didn’t hear from the other two companies I emailed.
Saturday, I phoned Mr. Shurtleff and described what I wanted. He listed patiently, asking pertinent questions. At the end, he said that they hadn’t cut half-blind dovetail joints in years because they were too time consuming for the kind of larger production work they typically do (kitchens cabinets and the like). We talked a bit more and he gave me the name and number of a smaller shop that he thought might be better able to build the cabinet. I tried to call them, but their phone was disconnected and no further information was available. It was starting to look like I wouldn’t be able to have the cabinet built by a local shop. There are other choices, like Bob Burt Custom Cabinets and Vintone, but I was hoping to work with a local cabinetmaker since this isn’t exactly “off the shelf.”
After picking my son up from preschool today, I stopped by one of the shops that I didn’t receive an email from, Joseph Capasso Architectural in Nyack, NY. Somewhat to my surprise, Joe happened to be in the shop. As it turns out, he runs the shop himself and specializes in custom made furniture, small cabinets and architectural millwork. Joe, as it turns out is a super nice guy and a very talented cabinet maker. He was working on a china cabinet when I stopped by and the finish and attention to detail were top-notch.
We talked for about 20 minutes and he looked over the head and speaker cabinet plans I had drawn up. He seemed very interested in the job and said he would check on the price of Zebrawood and give me a call in a few days with a quote. This is the kind of guy I like dealing with—someone who’s friendly, willing to share his knowledge, and open to trying different things. Joe isn’t setup to build amp cabinets the way Bob Burt is, but he’s local and he’s willing to give it a try. Now I just need to see how much it will cost.
Cool. I might have the Zebrawood and Ziricote cabinet after all!