A while back, I was at my local hardwood supplier and found a plank of wood of a species with which I was unfamiliar; marblewood (zygia racemosum). This is a South American hardwood with a golden yellow to orange color and large dark streaks of deep brown throughout. This, I thought, would make a very interesting chassis.

I didn’t want to spend too much on something I’d never used before and the wood is fairly expensive, over $25 / board-foot. So I bought one 3/4″ plank, 6″ wide by 36″ long.  This is just about right for a single small to mid sized chassis. Here is the unpopulated chassis following shaping and first sanding.

This is for a new amp design I’ve been working on. It is 2-3/4″ tall and sized for a top plate that is 9″ x 12-1/2″. This is a good size for a small SE amp.

At first I was thinking about using brass for the top & control plates. However now that I see how bold the wood looks, I’ve decided to use painted aluminum. I think that the bright brass would compete with the look of the wood; the overall effect being too busy. A wood this bold really needs something subdued to balance out the overall look of the amp.

This wood is not for the inexperienced wood worker. It is very dense and very rough grained. Overall I would say it is moderate to difficult with which to work. And all your tooling needs to be sharp! My advice is go slow, take shallow cuts, and work with the grain. It may be a little tedious working this way, but I think the results are worth it. And just for reference, this is what happens if you don’t pay attention while working with this wood.

In my own defense, this is the first time I’ve worked with this particular wood species. This failure happened when I took just a little too deep a cut, the bit caught some end grain, and the piece split as I was holding it. From here on I was much more careful.

Does anyone have some other suggestions for chassis material?