​​​​​​​​​​​​More than a decade ago I began a mission to learn how to spin resonator cones to be used with my homemade guitars. At the time the leading maker of cigar box guitar resonator cones was Mike Lowe (Old Lowe) from Rockwell Texas. He made these very nice, super thin, 7 and 1/4" aluminum and brass cones of which I bought and used.​

 

I contacted Mike via cigarboxnation.com messaging and told him how much I admired his work and asked if he would depart any knowledge of the process involved.​ Mike contacted me the very next day and pointed me to a a couple of YouTube videos that gave some basic instruction but he told me that there were "secretive parts" that each of those videos omitted and that Mike and a buddy of his developed their methods through trial and error but that basically he used a traditional lathe and a wooden stick with soap rubbed on the end.

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I purchased a wood lathe and just as soon as it arrived I began attempts a making the wooden forms that would be the shape of my cones. My completed forms were made using round blanks of figured maple.

It only took a few attempts of using a soaped up wooden stick before realizing there must be a better way. A vintage book I found recommended glycerin. This proved vastly better but what I wound up settling on was wax found in toilet seal rings. This was a major breakthrough. The next thing that really turned things around was purchasing an actual metal spinning rod with a nice long handle. This allowed me to shape smooth, deep, and fast. I went from spinning 1 or 2 cones a week to at times batches of 50 or more in an afternoon which I would ship to C.B. Gitty as well as a company in Australia to sell in their stores.​​​​​​​​ Rusty Taylor, a friend and incredible craftsman from Georgia, machined the adjustable T bar that I use on my lathe.  My lathe is a small Turncrafter Commander. I use scotch-brite pads to apply a nice clean finish that can be polished to shine.​