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Permalink Reply by Mark Werner on June 26, 2009 at 11:42pm

If you scroll through the pics here, you'll see everything from commercial cones intended for mandolins and ukes to nearly anything you can think of. Paint can lids, pet bowls, tin cans.... I used the aluminum lid from a girl-scout cooking set.
(check out my pics)
Nearly anything that will vibrate will produce some sort of tone; just make sure the base isn't flush against the back of the guitar. I used a couple of "rails" to provide standoff, but that's only one approach.

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Permalink Reply by Jesse Maling on July 6, 2009 at 5:21pm

Mate ,,, I was thinkng the same thing , here is what i did , Have a look at a local thrift store or kitchen equiptment place , what your looking for is an aliminium bundt mould ( cake or Jelly mould ), and a strainer or old deeping frying container ,,, I happend to find them both in the same shoping trolley parked out the front of the Shop ,,,, At the time I didnt know why I had to have them just picked them up and took them to the counter for 2 bucks total , So then I looked in the cutlery draw and had some metal skewers that I am using hold the mould tight against the strainer ... have a look at my pics and you will make better sence on what i am trying to explain , So once you have suitable parts you just need to cut the cone height down to fit in you CBG .... Place a buiscut bridge in that thing and your on .... Obviously this is just a starting point , but the best part about it is you can pick up the parts for next to nothing and experiment as much as you want .... Have fun .. Jess in NSW

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Permalink Reply by BT Cohosh on July 15, 2009 at 5:07am

Hey Doug!

I finished my first "real" reso build a month ago. I used an aluminum pot-lid with furring strip stand-offs a la Mark Werner.

It works pretty well, I think. The pot lid is pretty heavy, so it's not as loud as most commercial resos I've heard, but it's got a sweet tone. I've made a paint can lid reso as well--much easier initially, because the can lid drops into the thickness of the box top; you can use a conventional through neck design. The can lid has a plunky sound and not much sustain. Both feed-back like crazy; I'm currently reevaluating the way I use piezos.

BTW, the guy who owns the music store in town suggested a modification to my design. He's an old hippie, so I'm not always sure what he's talking about, but I think the gist of it was to "spin" the pot lid by hand. I think the idea is to take a blunt, narrow-ended tool of some sort and scribe lots of concentric circles/swirls into the metal of the lid. Most commercial cones (at least the good ones, I guess) are "spun", though I'm guessing not like this. I'd be curious to hear if this makes sense (or if maybe I just didn't understand what the guy said) and, if so, what sort of effect it would have on the tone....

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Permalink Reply by JUJU on July 15, 2009 at 7:19am

yes thats Right bought cones are Spun Aluminium , you start of with a disc of thin alloy plate 0.03mm ish , mount it on a lathe , but you also need a Former which the cone is spun against to form the shape of the reso cone , you can use a bit of Hardwood as the tool for pushing the the spinning Aluminium against the former , all you are creating in actual fact is a aluminium speaker cone !
have a look at these pics , should give you more of a idea whats involved

http://tweedsblues.net/trader/spin.html

have fun

juju.

BT Cohosh said:

Hey Doug!

I finished my first "real" reso build a month ago. I used an aluminum pot-lid with furring strip stand-offs a la Mark Werner.

It works pretty well, I think. The pot lid is pretty heavy, so it's not as loud as most commercial resos I've heard, but it's got a sweet tone. I've made a paint can lid reso as well--much easier initially, because the can lid drops into the thickness of the box top; you can use a conventional through neck design. The can lid has a plunky sound and not much sustain. Both feed-back like crazy; I'm currently reevaluating the way I use piezos.

BTW, the guy who owns the music store in town suggested a modification to my design. He's an old hippie, so I'm not always sure what he's talking about, but I think the gist of it was to "spin" the pot lid by hand. I think the idea is to take a blunt, narrow-ended tool of some sort and scribe lots of concentric circles/swirls into the metal of the lid. Most commercial cones (at least the good ones, I guess) are "spun", though I'm guessing not like this. I'd be curious to hear if this makes sense (or if maybe I just didn't understand what the guy said) and, if so, what sort of effect it would have on the tone....

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Permalink Reply by Roosterman on July 15, 2009 at 9:19am

Great link Juju! Right, wheres my lathe....

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Permalink Reply by BT Cohosh on July 15, 2009 at 9:57am

There we go. Confirmed by an expert.

Thanks Juju. I may dismount my potlid and try to cobble something together...

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Permalink Reply by JUJU on July 15, 2009 at 10:32am

no worries guys , hey if i cant help my mates who can i help ! we are all in this together right ?
i tried spinning about 5 years since but i was spinning Pewter very soft ,but that was freeform spinning where you use two hardwood tools , one in front and one behind the spinning Pewter made a little bowl , not very good at all to be honest but you can make out what it was supposed to be lol!
i have bought some 0.03mm alloy sheet to try spinning cones but as yet aint had time to give it a try , need to turn a Former/Die first was gonna try turning the former/die from some oak just to see if it was possible for me to get any sort of Cone spun , if it works i'll shell out for some Alloy billet and turn a long term former/die or have one turned for me from some Stainless steel
if you guys try it before me please let me know how yall get on , please be careful guys last thing we want is someone with a cone shaped head lol!
juju.

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Permalink Reply by Rafael Lopes on July 16, 2009 at 7:48am

http://cigarboxnation.ning.com/video/my-first-diy-ressonator-guitar

take a look, more details in my album.

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Permalink Reply by JUJU on July 16, 2009 at 9:50am

Yeah Ted your reso is real cool , i've looked at the pics of it before over and over and every time i look at it it gets better and better , i love how you create cool builds from everyday object , something i wish i was more able to do , my builds may look coolish but there pretty ordanary in a way .

thanks ,the link is cool i found it ages since theres some good stuff on there , wow is that the same Pete Thats on myspace (petes aluminium Guitars ) mind you i'm not sure now because i'm sure he lives in London unless he's moved , i'll check his myspace out again
Cheers Bro Keep well
juju.

Ted Crocker said:

JuJu, cool link. That guy is Pete Moles of Molanator Guitars in Tasmania. He sells cones that he spins himself and also makes awesome aluminum guitars.

Pete visited the states in 2006 and I met up with him in New York City for a week and we had a blast - tore up that town.

BTW here's the reso I made

More photos and details here.

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