Gee, I'd much rather come to your place to see how that umbilical wiring runs from one section to the other since I see you live in beautiful Hawaii! It's still cold here in Pennysylvania!

I'm guessing you split one of the long pieces (the back one) lengthwise, run a groove or grooves with a router make a space to house the wiring, run the edges on the jointer to clean them up, then glue the two back together? That's how I'd do it. Practically invisible if done carefully.

So, that middle section is indeed open all the way to the tabletop, then? And, all you see is the tubes? Cool idea! I love the looks of this preamplifier.

I also like the fact that the transformer is cheap, and the hum level is very low. I found 5 or 6 good 6AQ5's in my tube stash too. The fellow who used to sharpen my saw blades was a TV repairman and he gave me a bunch of his pulls.

I may try to build one of these with your help. I've never built any electronics from scratch, only kits. Lots of speakers, but no electronics. Presently, I use the Bottlehead Foreplay 2 preamp. I like it just fine, but I can't seem to quiet it down.

I forgot to ask what beautiful tropical wood you were using? Koa?
Wish I had a barn full of it.

I understand now about the pin out diagram for the 6AQ5's. I didn't know they had a certain number code too...7BZ. I guess I thought each numbered tube just had it's own pin out diagram.

All the best,
Mark