Official Luthiers Forum!

I searched but didn't find quite what I was looking for. Please excuse me if this has been answered (a million times)

Hollow forms seem to run from $60-$100. Any recommendations for a source for hollow forms? Does anyone make one that is a LOT better or a LOT cheaper than the others?

I seem to remember seeing one that was already glued down to another MDF board for added strength but now can't find the link.

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Hi Linus, I make the dishes on CNC and they are double laminated. In my opinion you can not make a stable dish out of a single piece of manufactured board (MDF or Plywood) because of the way board products are manufacture using pressure. Once you remove some material from only one face the board distorts. So I laminate prior to adding a radius. This ensures stability. My dishes are heavy so shipping is not cheap but the dishes, at $75 each, are! I can make ANY radius you like and there is no charge for custom radii unless I have to try and match an existing unknown radius.

Shane

_________________
Canada

I agree with Shane. I don't use MDF either . The product may look like it but it isn't . MDF machines very nicely but is not stable for the reasons Shane stated . You get what you pay for.

_________________
John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I just need to be clear, I do use MDF but it is laminated and in that process is very stable. The point I wanted to make is that any manufactured sheet stock (mdf, plywood, plexiglass, lexan, steel, and anything else) that is created in a process where pressure is used will distort if the face is machined. So it needs to "stabilized" or somehow "equalized" BEFORE that surface is machined. So that is why I laminate first and then apply two coats of varnish to all surfaces when I am finished. In this process these dishes are super stable, I have made hundreds of these over the past few years, shipped all over the world with no complaints for their stability.

Thanks
Shane

_________________
Canada