Well, to be honest, it sounds alot better than I thought it would. Wouldn’t give up any of my solid wood guitars for it, but it has a fun and unique tone, and might be an interesting addition -

Return to thread Aluminum Acoustic Guitar
 

Aluminum soundboards

I have not been active on AGF so an update......

This is a billet aluminum soundboard on top of a basic kit dreadnaught.
It works, and has been tested by many ears.
And analyzed with Audacity.

Two are available and
#1 is in the NAMM museum Carlsbad.
#4 is lost to a player who loves it.
#3 has the magnesium bridge and titanium pins.

If there is interest,
i am in the process of some studio demos ab testing.
And would like to sponser / find a builder to make more of these.
Thanks
https://ozztosh.com/wp-content/galle...DS-2-_-3-a.jpg

I posted on this topic in 2019. In 2020 I built an aluminum topped Size 5 (terz) guitar. The top is still "stuck" to the rim with fish glue after 2 years. Description follows:

I wondered how an aluminum-topped guitar would sound. Should be an easy build, right?

I used some scrap (cracks or other flaws) mahogany from Martin’s GMC for B/S. $10 for a box full.

The top is aluminum I had in stock from a previous car building hobby. Thickness started at 0.050”. The aluminum is either 3003 H14 or 5052 H14 (I didn’t have it labeled as I used it interchangeably). “E” of 5052 is 25% higher than 3003. That makes aluminum 6 or 7.5 times stiffer than spruce.

I decided to sand the aluminum to 0.045” or a little less, add 15 to 20-ft radius belly along the length and width with the English wheeling machine, and install it without braces or a bridge plate. I glued it to the box with fish glue for ease of removal if I wanted another top design.

Results:

With light strings, tuned to terz tuning (3 half tones higher to G) it sounds too stiff and muted especially above 5th position. Thicker pick softens minor metallic twang in open position. Sounds a little livelier than an HPL-topped Little Martin. My all-mahogany Size 5 tuned down to standard E is much livelier and much less muted in the upper range.

A top with “t” of about 0.030 or 0.035” should be better.

Build notes:

Used a long scale Richlite fret board by cutting off frets 1-3 and revising fret markers, full size Richlite bridge, and maple neck. Two coats of shellac sealer on wood. Random finish on aluminum with abrasive pad disc. Total build time 28 hours including making a second top. First one was damaged by spindle sander accident. Trimmed the installed top with carbide bit in Bosch router.

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/pnhP9Au.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]https://i.imgur.com/5Ozs3Ck.jpg[/IMG]

Around 1900 aluminum was no longer more expensive than gold (Queen Victoria of England famously used aluminum plates when fine dining instead of the cheap gold ones!). The Neil Merrill company made aluminum backed parlor guitars with a wooden top 1894-1898, pretty much the same way as an Ovation guitar.

Many were sold to tropical countries like India, where the humidity melted the hide glue and made the guitar come apart or "explode" from the swelling of the wood. They made aluminum mandolins, banjos, fiddles and woodwind instruments too.

I own one of these aluminum backed guitars, and it sounds OK, but not as good as a wooden one. The tone is not metallic, but lacking in quality.

Have a look at one here.

Read some more here.

Aluminum with guitars
 

I was asleep when this post came out.

Here is my version of aluminum soundboard.
It works differently than sheet metal.
No sound compromise with the rigidity of integral bracing.
machined from 3/8" billet plate

The sound is comparable to all high-end instruments.
This needs refinement and more testing,
I am willing to sponsor more builds.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects...ef=creator-nav