Official Luthiers Forum!

Tape? Rubber? Foam?

Inspiring minds would like to know.

A little masking tape and some aluminum foil.

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I used to stuff it full of wadded up newspaper, but now I use balloons.

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Regards,
Phillip Patton

http://www.pattonblades.com

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price has faded.

https://hoosierbladesmith.wordpress.com

I've settled on a bit of flexible sheet plastic inside cut to fit between the braces and a couple of lumps of foam (car sponge) underneath to keep it up.
Tried a balloon like I'd seen here, but they wouldn't co-operate!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I use the plastic top of a yoghurt container, held in place by a car sponge.

Balloon.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

+1

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

I have different lengths of 3" foam cylinders that hold cup lids in place. Tape takes too long and once a little dust works it's way into the tape and guitar top, no sticky!!

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jw ( o)===:::

Red balloons, the other colours don't work as well... Is true......

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.

Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


.

+1

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The Shallower the depth of the stream , The Louder the Babble !
The Taking Of Offense Is the Life Course Of The Stupid One !
Wanna Leave a Better Planet for our Kids? How about Working on BETTER KIDS for our Planet !
Forgiveness is the ability to accept an apology that you will probably NEVER GET
The truth will set you free , But FIRST, it will probably Piss you Off !
Creativity is allowing yourself to make Mistakes, Art is knowing which ones to Keep !
The Saddest thing anyone can do , is push a Loyal Person to the point that they Dont Care Anymore
Never met a STRONG person who had an EASY past !
http://wiksnwudwerks.blogspot.com/
http://www.facebook.com/groups/GatewayA ... rAssembly/

+1. Easy, cheap, covers 100% of the hole

A small plastic or paper plate, held in place with a piece of foam.

Balloon for me. What I like about the balloon is that once you are done spraying what you think is enough coats, you can measure the dry thickness by taking out the balloon and flaking off the finish and measuring it's thickness.

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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
http://www.flindallguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlindallGuitars

How do you get finish into the edges of the soundhole with the balloon in the way?

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jw ( o)===:::

The balloon only makes contact with the 'inside' edge of the sound hole (that make sense?). The finish seems to flow down onto the vertical edge of the sound hole with out any problem for me. I suppose if you blow it up to much, so that it sticks through the sound hole, you can't get finish on the vertical lip of the sound hole. I just blow it up until it hits that inside edge and you're good to go.

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Rob Flindall
Flindall Guitars
http://www.flindallguitars.com
https://www.facebook.com/FlindallGuitars

unless you do no between coats sanding this method will give a false result...the measured thickness on the balloon is going to be more than what is actually on the top

I use a piece of cardboard held in place with a block of foam rubber. Very often, the 'cardboard' is a string package with one corner cut off to fit against the UTB.

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John

I use the lid from a small coffee can. Fill the inside with newspaper to hold it up. It's the perfect size

cottage cheese container lid supported by scrap piece of foam rubber

I don't bother with covering the soundhole, don't see the point. But then, I don't spray finish!

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A man hears what he wants to hear, and disreguards the rest. Paul Simon

OK, I know that I'm a little colour blind, but even I can see a conflict here.

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

I use balloons. A side benefit of using them is you can flake the finish off the balloon and get a good estimate of the finish. Yellow balloons work best.

C'mon, guys, the color doesn't matter. What's important is that they say "Happy Birthday!" Sheesh, I thought everybody knew that...

Do not use balloons that say "Get Well Soon!". Don't ask me how I know this.

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Regards,
Phillip Patton

http://www.pattonblades.com

The bitterness of poor quality lingers long after the sweetness of low price has faded.

https://hoosierbladesmith.wordpress.com

It looks like a booby sticking through the soundhole. A green booby.

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jw ( o)===:::

Balloons for me as well. works well for covering sound ports too (two balloons - use the sound hole balloon to hold a smaller balloon in place to cover the sound port). You'd think there may be an issues with getting lacquer in the right spots on the edge of the sound hole, but lacquer seems to flow well into the lip. I'm not looking for much finish in that area anyway (no real need to level or wet sand around the lip if you have thin coats and avoid drips).

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Aaron Craig