Radius acoustic guitar sides

[Michelle_K]

Hi all,



A questions for the luthiers amoung us here. I am building an acoustic guitar and I do not have a radius dish for the side assembly. I wondered if anyone knows of a way I could radius the sides without a dish.



Thank you all



Regards



Michelle

 

[profchris]

I plane and sand a curve from neck block to tail block, and then glue in arched back braces. The back will bend down nicely over these to give a dome (of sorts). Note that you need a recurve at the end of the braces, as on a violin or mandolin, to get a neat joint where braces, side and back meet (unless you're binding the back).

 

[profchris]

Any help? A board with sandpaper glued to it, used held horizontal, gets the sides even with each other.

 

[richarddownunder]

On my first guitar, from memory, I used a radiused sanding stick with sandpaper attached - about 40-50 mm wide that spans the width of the guitar - I think that was an idea from the Kinkade book - I'll have to check. Worked OK although the radiused dishes are better.