Well, after a long on arduous attempt to restore the casing of my SX-980 to like new condition, my rabbid OCD finally kicked in to the point I had to make some changes.

As many of you Pioneer owners know, it is difficult to bring back wood casing to like new condition... You simply don't have enough real walnut to work with before you hit the plywood underscore. In addition, there is no way to repair scratches in the brushed aluminum... something many people can overlook, but not me.

Well, check out a few of the mods I made this weekend. As you will see, the case was primed and texture coated. I know it's not original, but it looks much better than the shabby, nicked, dinged and scratched wood case. I'm not 100% sold on the black / white spatter-color as of yet. I may repaint solid black (textured) to match the vent hood... We'll see.

In addition, I added a strip of solid walnut to the top to cover the scratches on the aluminum "lid." Only those of you "in the know" would catch that ammendment. It honestly looks like that was the way it came from the factory.

Luckily there are no scratches on the front faceplate, so I didn't have to try and think of a cure for that.

Again, I know it's no longer completely original, but it does look much better than before, and since I'll never sell it anyway, it's not a big deal. At least I can sleep better at night now not having to stare at the previous imperfections.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v710/gener8tr/102_0275.jpg

Looks good! I like the walnut band across the top I've been working on a new cabinet for my SX-980 but had to side line it because I've been sick the last two weeks.
Travis

It looks nice! Brad :banana:

That's a nice job, especially the walnut trim piece. I bet that texturized finish on the top is pretty durable.

You said you used a textured paint? Which one? Its a nice looking surface.

dew.

It came out real nice (I was pleasantly surprised)!

I'll check the can tonight and let you know what brand it is. I started by filling the nicks, chips, etc. in the wood with some readi-mix fiberglass and sanded the entire unit with 100 grit paper to give it a rough surface that would easily take paint. I started with a standard black primer for wood, then I sprayed a base coat of black stove paint... you know, the stuff designed for wood stoves and such that can stand high temps. This probably wasn't needed, but I had a can laying around and thought it would be a good idea anyway. Then I used the texture spray. They have a bunch of different color options, but I chose the black and white as it seemed to be the best match for the brushed aluminum face. I bought it at a local variety store for $6.99.

This was all VERY easy. You really can't screw up with texture spray... Just be sure to stay about 12" away from the unit. Obviously you should remove the vent hood first.

The top piece was ripped from a 1/4" x 10" piece of black walnut which I purchased at Woodworkers for $10.00. I cut it to size (7/8" wide x 20 3/4" long IIRC) and installed it by pre-drilling holes into the walnut side pieces (attached to the faceplate). I used some small, old-fashioned wood screws (countersunk) to secure the pieces together. It fit right over top of the faceplate like a glove and hides ALL of the scratches. If you didn't know better, you'd think it was stock. It doesn't look out of place at all to the untrained eye. My friends have no idea (and I don't feel the need to tell them).

Put a couple of plugs in those screw holes on the top piece and it would look Pro.