How do you guys think this would look?

[honkey]

So I have decided on building the upright instead of the cocktail table. I will find a 27" CRT TV with component-in and when I get a video card I will make sure it supports component out. Hopefully that satisfactorily takes care of my display.
Now I am on to how to build the cabinet. I went to Lowes today and saw that they have a really good price for cabinet grade pine (20$ 23/32x4x8). I read that pine is no good for control panels because it will dent, but that it should be fine for the cabinet itself. I am thinking I want to stain it a deep red. How do you guys think it would look to build the cabinet with pine and then have the top of the control panel be MDF painted black? I am having trouble picturing what it would look like in my head. I really like the real wood look, but I am not sure that I want to spend that much on oak to build the whole thing with. So I will either do pine with MDF control panel or all MDF.

[lilrascal]

Might want to try your desired stain on a sample piece of pine.  Pine tends to be difficult to stain evenly.  If you do decide to go that route be sure to use a pre-stain conditioner.

[Donkbaca]

That is SOOOO cheap!  Usually cabinet grade ply is 2-3 times that.  You sure its cabinet grade?

Don't worry about the denting, it won't be a problem.

Staining will be a pain in the ass, get prestain conditioner or use a gel stain.  I would get a gel stain, its easier to control the color.  Know that the color on the wood will be way lighter than it is on the can.

Do you have much wood working experience?  Building a stained cab is a lot more work since you need to be extra careful because you won't be able to fill and paint your mistakes and it always looks best if you hide your screws.  Be ultra careful with any wood glue that you use.  Just know a stained cab requires a lot more patience and time.

Make sure that you pick out the wood carefully so that you don't get a sheet that is bent or warped and build that sucker sooner rather than later so that it doesn't warp in your garage.

[nick3092]

Even with preconditioner, pine tends to be very blotchy. At least with traditional stains. I've never used gel.

Also, get a high quality stain, like from Sherwin Williams. Minwax from the big box stores is garbage. Minwax tends to be very watery and doesnt penetrate as well (inmho). It costs a little more, but they usually have a monthly weekend sale.

[honkey]

Yeah the price is great. It says cabinet grade on it and I had to ask what kind of wood it was because it wasn't labeled as anything else. That is good to hear that it won't bend. I suppose if it did though it would take a few years and I could always replace it. They did say at lowes that pine isn't quite as strong as oak, but they said it is not much different. I am assuming the 23/32 thickness is fine also?

[Donkbaca]

I used a minwax gel stain on my cab. I get a lot of compliments on it, it leaves a great patina, makes it look kinda like its antiqued.

It won't bend unless you expose it to cycles of heat and moisture. and the structure itself will keep it from warping.  Just make sure that the sheets you buy are straight.  Look them over carefully, lay them on the concrete floor and see if they are flat.

23/32 is basically 3/4 an inch. You want 3/4 an inch plywood, you can probably get by with 1/2 inch also, strength won't be much of an issue, all you need to do is hold up a TV, and you can reinforce that area and build an inner frame of 1x2's

Last thing though.  I am not sure if staining is the way you want to go for the type of cab you want.  A large 4 player CRT cab will be pretty big and if the stain doesn't match the rest of your furniture it will stick out like a sore thumb. 

Personally, I think stained cabs look best with a slim/lcd build and a simple CP.  THe CRT cabs I have seen that are stained just don't look as good to me, if I were building what you are building, I would probably paint it.  It would give you more lee-way with the build.  But that is just my opinion.