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I was wondering, anyone thought of making a radius dish using sheet metal by making ribs out of wood or metal, then screwing a strong but mildly stiff but flexible sheet metal such as spring steel to those ribs, to allow for changes in radius, or when steel is used as the base material strong magnets can be placed on braces in order to clamp it...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I think this is a clever idea. I have used magnets quite a bit in various guitar making tasks... but I sometimes find that it is a solution in search of a problem. I have tried various glue up methods and I always return to a simple go bar deck. It is simple, fast and flexible.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Magnets for braces are tough because the strength of attraction decays quickly with distance. I think you'd need some dangerously strong magnets to have good holding power at the distance a brace top is from the metal beneath.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services

Well... you could make a harness with two magnets to straddle the brace and pull it into position. but again... I am not sure that there is any advantage to this vs. a go bar deck.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Might work to drill holes and embed magnets into the MDF dish. Maybe embed two magnets with one on either side of the brace then use a hat shaped clamp over the brace to get good holding power. Could possibly establish the brace position with this method.
Again, maybe a solution looking for a problem but it's fun (and good) to think outside the box on occasion.
Nelson Palen

Sorry about the magnet idea.... probably not the best out there...

What do you think about the wood rib/sheet metal radius dish? Could be made cheaply I think and the remaining space can then be filled with expanding foam for additional support.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Methinks a routed out piece of 1" thick MDF is much cheaper than any fancy metal fabrication....

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

It's not so much the price of MDF, but the fabrication process itself is too messy... and time consuming because you would have to find ways to rotate the router or wood. Also MDF is really toxic...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I don't have a mess when I make my dishes.
People have made dishes with 1/4" hard board and ribs too. I really don't see an advantage to using metal as it might dent easier and even rust. I know John Hall is using some kind of backer board instead of MDF that is more stable. Perhaps finding another material might be better but MDF is pretty cheap.

Ah-ha....so have someone else make them for you - no mess in your shop - then seal them with shellac. That's what I do. Several of the OLF sponsors make them, including Shane Neifer who has a line of standard radius dishes and will make custom radius dishes for a paltry $15 more....check them out here (scroll down to nearly the bottom of the page, or click the link on the left).

Good luck!

Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

The shipping would be pretty high for him.

The problem then is that the prices the sponsors charge are really high, and the shipping makes it very expensive. I am planning on moving to Europe soon, I hope there are sponsors making it there.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

If it's cost prohibitive, there are other options.

There are people making real flat tops (Kevin Ryan, Jim Olson, Mario Proulx) who seem to be doing fine with it according to their wait lists and reputations, so that covers one dish.

Mario used a chunk of a domed car hood for his back 'radius dish' for many years.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services