Pejomo Shows how
Tweed, you asked for it. Heres a few shots about spinning cones, I haven't exposed all the secrets. 1st one is the blank die. This one is for a spider (Dobro type) I simply change this to spin biscuit (National type)
This shows the die with the blank cone loaded & the toolrest in place.
Power on, & highly trained, underpaid, specialised , over weight rocket scientist with elaborate hand held tool does his stuff.
Cone shaped & cut(secret involved) & ready for final clean up & inspection.
There are many considerations to successfully spin a cone. The main variants are correct thickness & quality of aluminum sheet. Speed of machine to spin die. Spider & biscuit need to be different. Correct tool timber & lubricating compound, correct die to blank oil, & trimming technique & cutting compound. All of the above were determined by myself & John Turnbull through much experimentation. These photo's published with his permission. I may be wrong but I believe there are no other comparable photo's on the internet.
Pejomo (Pete Moles) is a Tasmanian luthier specializing in electrified resonator guitars. He is currently spinning his own brand of aluminum high quality resonator cones and can be reached via his website at www.molonatorguitars.com
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