Nervous excitement...

[Chris_W]

Just another new guy here, awesome forum, have spent countless hours trawling through it and hopefully have soaked up a little of your collective wisdom.
On to the point though, i am waiting for the bending pipe to heat up, and just about to attempt to bend my first set of real sides... and cannot believe how nervous/excited i am. Have done quite a few practice runs, but actually going ahead and bending what I hope turn into the sides of my first guitar is really different...
enough procrastination (there has already been weeks of it), time to jump in...

Chris

[Cam]

make sure you post pics of the bent sides


What wood are you bending/ using for the sides?

[Chris_W]

Having a break, almost done with 1 side, not looking like a photo will be worthy of gracing this forum , the blisters i'm getting look much more impressive

It's Indian Rosewood... I thought it was one of the easier woods to bend, but it is so much harder than the Tas Blackwood that I practiced on to get into shape (both thicknessed to 2mm). It is also cupping slightly when it gets warm, would this mean it is too wet? - i am giving it a light spritz before bending.

[Lillian]

Welcome Chris. I'd suggest gloves and maybe a short slat with handles as a backer.

Have fun bending . I'm off to work.

[Hesh1956]

Hi Chris and welcome to the ANZLF!

2mm is a great thickness and should work fine for you. Cupping is often caused by too much water, perhaps try just a light spritz from a misting spray bottle and try to keep the side moving back and forth to heat a larger area while bending. A back slat also will help distribute the heat and provide additional support for the wood while bending. And leather gloves will help with those blisters - don't ask how I know......

Lastly if you mount your bending pipe to the edge of a bench and like to work in your boxer shorts never, never, never leave the pipe on.....

Remember we love pics too!

[graham mcdonald]

The important thing is to have the pipe hot enough. Water sprayed onto the pipe has to bounce off, over enough of the pipe that is the width of the sides. Spray both sides of the wood to be bent and as it evaporates off the outside re-spray both sides. Check regularly (by spraying a little) that the pipe hasn't cooled down too much and don't try to bend one spot. Rock the wood over the pipe so 75-100mm / 3-4" at a time is being heated.

It is very satisfying when it works, but the first few times can be frustrating

cheers

graham

[ozziebluesman]

Good on ya Chris. Get into it! I remember my first set of side bending on the pipe. It was tassie sassafrass and I burnt the sh$%*&t out of it on the waist bend. The mistake sanded out eventually. It's all a learning curve. I bent some sapele for the first time last week and I found it easy enough to bend with not much spring back.

Welcome to the forum.

Cheers

Alan

[Chris_W]

Thanks for all the support and advice... will definitely wear pants next time (thanks Hesh)... 1 side down, the other will have to wait till tomorrow night.

I may be getting carried away a bit, but it's amazing how a task so small can give you a huge sense of achievement... (and have you grinning from ear to ear)

Getting my feet back on the ground for a moment, the plan for this is an OM, sitka top, IR back and sides, with Tassie Blackwood binding/endgraft/headstock, Qld maple neck and rosewood fb and bridge. Hoping to give it to my brother for his b'day, which gives me an August deadline... incredibly optimistic
After that... MORE!! Hopefully a weiss in the next year or so, Allen's that he posted on here a while ago is just stunning, when my skills improve i will definitely try to replicate his effort.

Cheers


Chris

[Allen]

Welcome to the forum Chris. I do remember it was very exciting indeed at each step that I completed successfully on my first guitar. And routing the binding ledge where I must have lost a kilo sweating due to the stress of not wanting to stuff up all that hard work.

If you haven't watched Robbie O'Brian's utube video on side bending, it's well worth it. Might give you some tips that will help out.

[Nick]

Welcome to the forum Chris. The whole building process can be satisfying but nothing quite like starting with a straight bit of wood & ending up with a nicely curved side, but be carefull....it's addictive
And Allen's comment about cutting the binding channel, I still get that way now! Putting a tool that's spinning in the thousands of rpm range up close to something I've spent hours on, makes my bum twitch but it's not scrap until you can't fix it & there's plenty of ways to do that, we've all been there

[kiwigeo]

Zis is how I bend ze sides....

First I do thees



And then I do thees


And volia...we have ze bendy side!! And if you dont believe I am French..look through ze weendow and voila you will notice ze onions in ze garden! VOILA!!

[sebastiaan56]

Note the trousers....

[Nick]

Nice job Martin! but listen very carefully, I shall say zis only once.................................................................................... you've bent a left handed side rather than a right
And if you're french where eeze zee Beret monsieur? No self respecting frenchman would be seen dead without 'is 'at!

[matthew]

Pipe bending tute

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/ ... x?id=32489

Not fantastic but it helps to watch it happening. The second video shows it well.

[Chris_W]

Cheers and thanks again.... the 2nd side was so much easier tonight, and a much better looking side (this guitar still won't win any beauty contests). I think having a cold one beforehand helped, as did wearing pants, but in reality it was the advice and confidence I was given over the past 24 hrs that amde the difference, this place is great.

Now on to bracing... (well reading about it as much as possible anyway!)


Chris