Maple Platform Question

I ordered a unfinished 2" thick maple platform from Mapleshade. It is already sanded and sealed and ready for painting. I will be painting it a semi gloss black as per Mapleshades instructions over the weekend. My audio rack is 42 inches tall and the platform will be on the top shelf making it 44 inches tall. My VPI Scout will sit on top of this platform.

I didn't order the isoblocks from Mapleshade to put under the platform, as they are too tall and would add to the height of the turntable. You can see where I am going with this as I am not very tall, too much additional height would make it hard for me to access the turntable.

I want to sit the platform on something and I was thinking either some felt dots or some hard pliable plastic feet which I can buy from the local Lowes. So, my first question is, will this degrade the sound? Second, I use brass cups under the VPI cone feet, and should I continue to do that or let the cone feet rest directly on the maple platform?

Lastly, I only paid 95.00 including the shipping for the platform unpainted, as opposed to 350.00 for it factory painted. Even if my paint job doesn't come out perfect, I still saved a lot of money.