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Do Acoustic Guitars Have To Have A Soundboard Radius?


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Ok, I have a related question. When you're radiusing a top, do you radius the inside and the outside surfaces? If so, I'm assuming the process it to thin the top, then radius it, then brace it, right? I'm kinda lost on this point.

-Dave

The top starts as a thin bookmatched piece and then the braces are radiused and then glued on and after they're glued on it makes it radiused

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Ok, I have a related question. When you're radiusing a top, do you radius the inside and the outside surfaces? If so, I'm assuming the process it to thin the top, then radius it, then brace it, right? I'm kinda lost on this point.

-Dave

The top starts as a thin bookmatched piece and then the braces are radiused and then glued on and after they're glued on it makes it radiused

Woah woah woah! Light bulb. So you don't actually radius the top. You radius the braces, and then you bend the top over the radiused braces, right? Do you radius all the braces? It seems like it would be hard to bend the top in all four directions at the same time.

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Ok, I have a related question. When you're radiusing a top, do you radius the inside and the outside surfaces? If so, I'm assuming the process it to thin the top, then radius it, then brace it, right? I'm kinda lost on this point.

-Dave

The top starts as a thin bookmatched piece and then the braces are radiused and then glued on and after they're glued on it makes it radiused

Woah woah woah! Light bulb. So you don't actually radius the top. You radius the braces, and then you bend the top over the radiused braces, right? Do you radius all the braces? It seems like it would be hard to bend the top in all four directions at the same time.

Yeah, you do all of them the top is very flexible because of how thin it is. The back only has 4 braces going one way so it's only radiused one way but then the back of the sides are shaped to a taper to radius it the other way too.

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Ok, I have a related question. When you're radiusing a top, do you radius the inside and the outside surfaces? If so, I'm assuming the process it to thin the top, then radius it, then brace it, right? I'm kinda lost on this point.

-Dave

The top starts as a thin bookmatched piece and then the braces are radiused and then glued on and after they're glued on it makes it radiused

Woah woah woah! Light bulb. So you don't actually radius the top. You radius the braces, and then you bend the top over the radiused braces, right? Do you radius all the braces? It seems like it would be hard to bend the top in all four directions at the same time.

Yeah, you do all of them the top is very flexible because of how thin it is. The back only has 4 braces going one way so it's only radiused one way but then the back of the sides are shaped to a taper to radius it the other way too.

Lets not forget that the sides top and back are also curved so the radiused top and back fit without gaps. I radius dish is recommend as it makes the whole process less of a challenge. There are various radius dishes available or make your own, first decide on a radius for both the top and the back. In most circumstances they are not the same. I use a 25' top radius and a 15' back radius, the back being the greater arch. Check You tube for videos on the process, I have seen a few there.

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I was intimidated by the whole radius sound board when i first thought of building an acoustic. So much in fact that i decided to buiild an electric first. Once i got around to doing my acoustic, i was suprised at how unbelievably easy it was to do (much easier than spelling unbelievably correctly). There are alot of tutorials on radius dish making out there.

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I was intimidated by the whole radius sound board when i first thought of building an acoustic. So much in fact that i decided to buiild an electric first. Once i got around to doing my acoustic, i was suprised at how unbelievably easy it was to do (much easier than spelling unbelievably correctly). There are alot of tutorials on radius dish making out there.

Yeah the radius takes maybe another hour and half of work and it's really just sanding the braces and lining. Only bad part is making the dishes but that doesn't take too long. Building acoustics are much more involved than electrics but a lot more fun.

For radiusing the linings I use the master templates for the radiuses with some sandpaper double taped on, I like that way better. With the dish I rough out the radius on the braces on a belt sander and clean it up with a piece of sandpaper on the dish. Then I use the dish for the go bar system (which is a great, easy, and cheap way to glue on the braces).

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Yeah, I'm familiar with all that. For some reason, I was thinking you use the radius dish directly on the top and back. That's probably why I could never find good information. I kept looking for pictures of people trying to sand down their tops with a radius dish.

I guess that's one of those things I'll look back on and laugh someday. Incidentally, if anyone knows of a cheaper source for a radius dish than this guy, I'm all ears:

http://www.axehandle.net/gpage1.html

Thanks for the help,

-Dave

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Because I work with limited space, I try to limit my jigs. I'd considered building one myself, but in the end, I don't think I'll regret buying one. On my particular build, I won't need one for the back anyway.

That's the cheapest I've seen but it doesn't even say what radius it is though, I made my own though.

I think you just tell him the radius you want and he builds it to order.

-Dave

EDIT: Incidentally, he makes 16" long radius sanding block too, and at a pretty reasonable price!

Edited by dpm99
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