| Project by John Wainwright | posted 04-06-2016 02:00 AM | 3390 views | 4 times favorited | 15 comments |  |
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This was my first foray into steam bending wood – so of course the first thing I had to build was a steam box, and then a make-shift bending rig. Once I had the top and bottom formed, the rest went together fairly easily.
The amp is made from 1/2” red oak, with 1/4” oak-veneer ply for the front and back panels with the control labels printed directly onto the wood. It’s finished off with a 3/8” red oak trim ring over a brushed aluminum and black cloth grill cover, and wood knobs. The stubby little mid-modern legs also lend to the retro feel.
The guts are a basic solid-state 10-watt practice amp, with controls for volume, gain, high and low tone, inputs for both a guitar and an auxiliary input, and a headphone jack.
I entered this in a Ryobi Nation contest and actually won, and was awarded $500 in free Ryobi tools.
https://www.ryobitools.com/nation/projects/1938
-- What wood John do?
15 comments so far
kimosawboy
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183 posts in 4426 days
#1 posted 04-06-2016 02:35 AM
Diggin the curves as well as the proportions…nice!
G Vavra
Ivan
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17282 posts in 4323 days
#2 posted 04-06-2016 06:41 AM
I like that connection of modern electronic and woodworking design.
-- Ivan, Croatia, Wooddicted
Redoak49
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5582 posts in 3444 days
#3 posted 04-06-2016 10:50 AM
Very nice
CampD
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1833 posts in 4941 days
#4 posted 04-06-2016 12:49 PM
Pretty cool, nice job!
-- Doug...
Notw
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1241 posts in 3209 days
#5 posted 04-06-2016 01:07 PM
You have a Steam master 9000 and a Bend-O-Matic….so lucky :-) very nice project
Moondog1
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3 posts in 2247 days
#6 posted 04-06-2016 01:21 PM
Wow! I’d love to have this for my electronic drums (Yamaha DD65) really cool.
-- Moondog1, Afton NY
drbyte
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848 posts in 5517 days
#7 posted 04-06-2016 02:36 PM
Very nice work and great design! Love that Bend-O-Matic! What kind of amp did you use for the guts?
-- Dennis, WV
RichCMD
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430 posts in 3396 days
#8 posted 04-06-2016 02:52 PM
I really like this. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything quite like it before. The steam bending just adds to the enjoyment.
-- Ride the bevel!
helluvawreck
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32122 posts in 4322 days
#9 posted 04-06-2016 06:44 PM
You’ve done a really nice job on this project. Congratulations.
helluvawreck aka Charles
http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
-- helluvawreck aka Charles, http://woodworkingexpo.wordpress.com
JimboBaggins
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4 posts in 2338 days
#10 posted 04-06-2016 09:08 PM
Cool looking rig. Are the guts from a kit or did you breakdown an existing amplifier?
jeffswildwood
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5132 posts in 3432 days
#11 posted 04-06-2016 11:49 PM
Nice work, nice design. You did an awesome job!
-- We all make mistakes, the trick is to fix it in a way that says "I meant to do that".
woodshaver Tony C
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8638 posts in 4808 days
#12 posted 04-07-2016 01:43 PM
Very classy design! Looks great!
-- St Augustine FL, Experience is the sum of our mistakes!
Josh
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1234 posts in 4025 days
#13 posted 04-07-2016 02:02 PM
Sweet little project and I love the pics.
-- Tree, wood, and box lover from Pennsylvania
John Wainwright
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24 posts in 2238 days
#14 posted 04-08-2016 01:28 AM
To those who asked about the guts – this one was a basic 10w solid state practice amp, and I honestly don’t even remember the brand. It was a “Behringer-type” economy one I had lying around. It was less about the amp and more about the cabinet, just to see if I could do it.
If I can manage to get the Bend-O-Matic to bend some 3/4 walnut, I’m going to do one about triple the size using a tube amp with a 10” or 12” speaker.
-- What wood John do?
mikeacg
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2124 posts in 2513 days
#15 posted 04-08-2016 01:46 PM
What a great way to recycle some old equipment! I have a little Fender practice amp that is showing some age and might be ripe for a refacing job! Thanks for sharing John!
-- Mike, A Yooper with a drawl, http://www.artcentergraphics.com
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