T series? Does anyone know which alloy of Alcoa is best suited for sound transmission? Also , since I am casting into colloidal silica shells instead of sand will this affect the annealing of the metal, should I bury the shells in Ceramic fiber once they are cast? Should I heat treat them afterwards?Any thoughts will help, I have been approached to make metal guitars for someone......

there's two really great people i know who can answer you much better than i can (and i would wage bettter than anyone else here).



kevin burkett from Electrical Guitar Company:

electricalguitarcompany@yahoo.com



matt hall from new brutalism and Tactical Works:

hall@tacticalworks.us


kevin is actually a forum member here.

both of them know a whole bunch about Al.

jeremy

I actually just got in contact with Kevin, thats what made me think of this, i was hoping an acoustical engineer might remember some useful facts, The guy I am making one for now has no clue, but Kevin will...thx.

The 6XXXs are wrought alloys. If you're buying ingots for casting, use A356.

(I thought this was a trick question.)

Ahh thank you dear!! I love you!! That is why i posted it I always thought they were better suited for machining, but then this guy was saying use this stuff, and I was like uh....

try tym at tym guitars. he uses casting to make his aluminium necks so he may be able yo help
http://www.tymguitars.com.au/index.html

as if being in technician wasn't enough...

ooow, your so mean!

I have had very little do with castings with the exception of the Velenos I worked on. He used Almag 335, I believe. It polishes really really easy, but I was not impressed by the corrosion resistance nor its strength. Im really not much of a fan of cast necks in general, as they dont have half the strength of billet. Velenos are in fact very easy to warp. Im not saying dont do it, but just keep that in mind.

As far as using T grade chips/metal and then casting it, Im sure it will work, but Im not sure how well.

What type of guitar are you building?