Reso Cover

[Phil Delpierre]

I want to take a stab at making a reso cover. I see Lowes/Home Depot carry 6X24" sheets of steel or aluminum. For those of you that have done this ... would either work, or should I stick with steel? I want to drill many holes in them, and pound them out slightly so the center is raised on the guitar.

[Mark Werner]

I found a pot-lid at a thrift store that was about the right size, made of aluminum. Cut the rim off with a saber-saw, and then drilled holes till I was happy...
Seemed to work fine.
If you start with a flat piece of material, you can work it into a curve or dome shape by hammering. You need either a piece of rounded hardwood or one of those auto-body forming tools so as not to leave dents.... It's a lot of work.

I found that using a conventional bit for drilling through this thin stock caused tears; better to go with one of those "stepped" sheet-metal bits.