Tube shield in a Hiwatt?

[martin manning]

Sure. I would use the skinny (~1/16") ones to get something similar to the appearance of lacing.

[mhuss]

Very late to the thread, but I really think the shield was originally to keep the output tube heat away from the can caps, which were in close proximity and were not hi-temperature spec electrolytics. It also helped guide the hot air around the output tubes up and through the top vent in the cabinet.

It's funny, in the later Biacrown years they moved all the caps inside the the chassis, and kept the shield for a while. At that point, it was only "useful" for making the changing of preamp tubes difficult.