Another idea you guys might like to consider is to get the panels manufactured by this company:

http://www.schaeffer-apparatebau.de/
(or in the USA)
http://www.frontpanelexpress.com/

They have a free download application to allow design of your front panel (in this case the empeg fascia) - and then submit the design online for manufacture. I recently used this service for the manufacture of a custom front panel for a home media computer I'm building using an old DVD player case - the quality of finish is fantastic (german engineering!) and overall the whole process is very slick and impressive.

I just did a very very rough design for an empeg fascia (guessed dimensions, a few holes in roughly the right place, and a single rectangular hole for the lense) and this comes out at around 20 euros + postage.

The software only allows a limited number of simplistic shapes, but it should be possible to overlap a few rectangles to approximate 303's design...

The front panels are all made from aluminium in a range of coloured finishes - there's no brushed finish available but I guess you could do this with a little dremel work. I went for the natural anodized finish which is a pleasing matt silver - would imagine it might look nice on the empeg.

If anyone feels like working on a design for this, then a group buy could be set up (I'm not volunteering) to get a sizeable volume discount. This company only produces front panels, so they should be around for a while for any further orders - either one offs for individuals, or further group buys. Having both a european presence (in Germany) and in USA should be a good thing too - I haven't checked but would imagine that the same software & design files work with both countries.

Sadly, they don't use lasers (which does sound cool), but high speed milling machines instead.

Anyone think this might be an idea?