After a difficult and focused three months or so, I am finally getting back to my normal routines. And that means I’m returning to work on my Source Selector Unit/Preamp project. Thank you to everyone who has had patience with my absence from the website.

Remember when I said that I had chosen the wood for my new project? Well I’ve changed my mind. It seems that the piece of bloodwood I had chosen has a decided twist which I was concerned would adversely affect the corner joinery. Not anything extreme, just enough to risk the chassis not sitting quite flat. Since I didn’t want to have to deal with such challenges at this point, I’ve found a different wood for the chassis.

The new chassis wood I’ve chosen is a piece of African Bubinga (Guibourtia spp.). This is actually the same piece which was in the running for the 6AS7 “Purpleheart” SET Amplifier chassis. Here it is just prior to running it through the planer.

This board has some really great grain patterns. I plan on using a nice oil finish to really bring out the grain patterns. Heres a closeup of one end of this board.

This “marble-like” grain runs the length of the board. The board is only about 6-1/2 inches wide so I’ll have to cut the four 3-1/2″ wide chassis pieces end to end. This will likely leave me with a piece about 2-1/2″ wide which I can use for a matching project later on.

As soon as I have the chassis pieces rough cut, I’ll post a picture so folks can get a feel for the overall look of the unit. Thanks again for everyone’s patience in waiting for this project to get moving again.

As always, questions and comment are welcome.