15 ft. rad. on 0000's

[Dave long]

I'm thinkin on getting a dish from Ken and being cheap I'm tring not to buy two. ??? Do some guy's use 15 ft. for D and jumbo's on the back ? Or should I use 20 ft. on my om's and smaller guitar's. I known you can do what you want, but I thought I would throw this out there and see what you guys think.... Oh buy the way is there an easy way to slap sand paper on without spending 30.00 bucks/. ...any info very wellcome.. Thanks Dave

[Dave Bagwill]

Dave - Ken sells a 15' radius back dish that is not circular, so you can use a spray adhesive (I use Elmer's spray, it works fine) and regular sandpaper.
15' is a dandy radius for D size - I've used it on two of Ken's Ditson kits.

An MDF sanding bar with a 15' radius works as well as a dish and takes only a strip or two of sandpaper, also glued on. Ken sells those as well. I've used one on all 7 guitars I've built.

[Dave long]

Thanks bud, I still dont know if I will go wt. the dish or bar. I was thinkin I could sand the braces and make them with the dish. On the five ones I made, I made by hand, But I thought a dish would make braces better. I also used my table top router but the bearing sliped and wrecked my jig. It's not easy making the rad. for jig's like that, and thought a dish might sand a nice brace. There's so many ways to go....and go.... Thanks Dave

[ken cierp]

Sanding the brace glue surface on a spherical dish is a mistake -- think about it -- you want that surface perfectly flat where it makes contact with the plate -- rubbing the brace on a spherical dish rounds the edges and or tilts the glue surface. The tiny width of the brace is not going to impart any contour along the stiff length-wise grain, but rather if contoured it will gap at the glue line.

I use 15' for all styles all models -- looks nice and is a tiny bit more resistant to cave-ins.

There is no reason you cannot cover a dish with 5" or 6" PSA sanding disks you do not need to cover every single square inch.

[Dave long]

Thanks Ken, Thats why I have'nt done the dish thing so- far. But there are still some things bugging me. When I glue the back on , it fits the lower part of the guitar but hangs up in the air over the contured part, toward the neck block, because the rim dives down. I thought maybe if the dish made it more.... like a potato chip..ha ha, the back would angle down more. I have been meaning to ask you this for a while. I am sanding the rim with a homemade 20 ft. bar, so it is fitting the edges, but a go-bar is needed to press the back to neck block. Also Dave B. said you sell a dish that is not circular, is the dish like the shape of the true back, like I see in books. Maybe you can tell me more about the conturing system you sell. This might help others too. Thanks guys ...Dave

[ken cierp]

First its important to understand that the rim is in fact supposed to impart the contour/radius to the back plate length-wise while the braces impart the contour width-wise. So yes you'll have to apply a bit of pressure to roll the back at the neck block -- if it takes a lot of force the back is too thick.

There is an illustration in this listing

http://www.ebay.com/itm/120810375653?ss ... 1108wt_428

The Mega Mold and Stand Alone Contouring fixtures set angle, location and the actual radius on the rim top or back edge -- a dish or hand held device having no positive locators will not have the ease of process or comparable precision results.

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/contourfixt.html

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/rimslopeMM.html

[Dave long]

Thanks Ken, Do You sell the spindle and stuff ? Or do we make our own. I've been reading these for a while, maybe I'm missing some products you sell. Maybe you could send me a message with a way to get a conturing deal... I have the mega mold and templates, sorry to get into business on the forum. Thanks Dave