My Steampunk Resurrection: Giving a 1950 Supro Guitar Amp a Second Life

I’m standing in my Furniture workshop, looking at a relic: a 1950 Supro guitar amp that is just falling apart. The original case is beyond saving, but the classic components inside are begging for a new home. I decided I would build a completely custom case with a steampunk vibe to house this piece of musical history. Check out the picture of the finished Steampunk Guitar Amp.

At the lumber yard, I found a Walnut board with beautiful, flowing grain and even some striking purple stripes.  It had the perfect character to set the mood for the entire piece. After carefully cutting it up and ensuring those purple stripes were featured, I moved on to the joinery. For this project, I chose sliding dovetails, a strong and elegant method that felt right for the aesthetic.

The build took a fascinating turn as I moved into the metalworking phase. For the sides of the amp, I drilled symmetrical holes to hold decorative copper rods, which would float between crossbars. It was a design I was sure would look sweet.

This particular Supro amp is an oddball—only a few were made in the early 50s, and it features an unusual oval 6×10 speaker. To highlight its weirdness, I decided to build a segmented ring with Padauk accent wood to frame it. Figuring out the angles and lengths for that oval was a madness of its own, but the result made the unique speaker truly pop.

Next, I needed to create a custom mount for the tube connectors. Back at my KNS metals rack, I found the piece of aluminum. I machined it on my CNC to create a mounting plate, which I then fitted to the wood. For the final metallic flourish, I added copper tubes around the speaker grill, beveling each one by hand to fit the circle perfectly.

But raw, shiny copper didn’t fit the steampunk look. It needed patina. I took the entire build apart and applied chemicals to the copper, watching in amazement as a brilliant blue color emerged. After washing off the salt and sealing it with a finish, the pieces had the perfect aged, artistic look I was going for.

With the finish applied and all the parts ready, the moment of truth arrived: reassembling the amp and reinstalling the electronics. It was a tedious process of carefully connecting each wire to the new mounting plate, but finally, everything was secured inside its new steampunk home.

Now, I have a confession to make. After all this work, I can’t actually play the guitar. So, to truly christen this resurrected amp, I called my friend Greg, from the channel Greg’s Garage. As a fellow maker and guitar builder, he was the perfect person to bring this project to its conclusion.

He plugged in, and the room filled with the warm, classic tone of the 1950 Supra, now housed in a one-of-a-kind steampunk body. Hearing it sing was the ultimate reward for the project.  This build was a journey of wood, metal, and music.

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