I managed to steal a little time over Easter to do a some work in the shop. The chassis for the new 6V6 “Curly Maple” Amplifier is coming along nicely.

The wooden chassis now has five thin coats of oil finish. It’s really starting to look nice.

This is the chassis just after applying the fifth coat of oil. My guess is that I’ll be doing between ten and fifteen coats total before I consider the finish complete.

This chassis is definitely going to be lighter in tone than some of my previous chassis. But the wild patterns in the grain lines and wood tone are really striking. Up to this point the chassis got a light buffing between coats with a fine steel wool. From this point forward I’ll be buffing with a pad of rough burlap between coats. This change really affects the feel of the finish leaving an almost silky texture on the final surface. It also helps the finish obtain a significant depth and radiance.

Between coats of oil setting up I also managed to do some final metal finishing and parts mounting. All the metal for the amplifier is now complete except for the top plate. The weather has to cooperate and provide a little more warmth before I feel comfortable spray painting the top plate in my shop. Here are the front and rear plates for the amplifier with parts mounted.

As I said before, the rear and bottom got just a buffed finish on the aluminum. The front plates are powder coated by Front Panel Express from a batch I had them do some time back.

It won’t be long now before it’s time to begin assembly. I just need to get the proper conditions to get the top plate primed and painted.

As always, questions and comments are welcome.