Sorry about the title; I couldn’t resist. I got some time today so I applied the primer to the metal for the 6L6 SE-UL amp. The primer takes 24 hours to fully dry so tomorrow I’ll place it in the amp with an Edcor transformer on top and show everyone what the grey looks like with the spalted alder.

Here are all the metal pieces that will be getting color.

Some may notice that the bottom plate is not in evidence in this photo. In the past I have usually painted the bottom plate of amplifiers, including on the recent 6AS7 SET build. However, as evidence that one can teach an old dog new tricks, I have decided on a different tack.

When I built the 6CY7 V2 “Zebrawood” amp, the inside of the back plate behind the transformers was painted. This meant was that, if I wanted the back plate of the amp (as viewed from the back) to be painted, I would have to do both sides of the back plate. At the time I decided it wasn’t worth the effort so I left it bare aluminum on the back.

The other day I was moving the amp and I noticed that I hadn’t painted the back. I wouldn’t have even noticed it then if I hadn’t been moving the amp around. Then I recalled another project, the Dual Triode Test Jig. Due to the professionally manufactured face plate, I did no metal painting on this unit at all. The bottom plate of this jig is also bare metal. Neither instance bothered me in the slightest.

So I’ve decided that to simplify things I will no longer apply finish to exposed bottom plates that won’t be seen. This saves me the painting effort and keeps me from being annoyed if the finish doesn’t turn out as well as I would have liked.

When the primer is good and set I’ll let everyone see what the grey color looks like with the finished chassis.

As always, questions and comments are welcome.