Alcohol of great assistance when bending sides

[kiwigeo]

Made a bit of progress on the current build in between domestic duties and a long Geologists Lunch. Pics are of the right hand rib being bent....went alot easier than the left rib which started splitting around the waist.

A little bit here.....(pre lunch)

And a little bit here (also pre lunch)

Voila!!! And all without ze fancy thermal blanket! (this pic taken post lunch.....ze two bottles of red obviously helped).

[Allen]

I find two bottle of red help virtually everything I do.

There is a great deal of satisfaction in hand bending isn't there? Are these sides for the Vanilla Torres?

[kiwigeo]

Yes this is for the vanilla Torres...or "Doctor Ruby's Classical" as it has become officially known.

[kiwigeo]

Got the ribs glued in today.....no major problems. I still think I could have stuck a few more clamps on that butt block. Tomorrow....I stick in ze tantellones!

[Stephen Kinnaird]

C'mon, Martin, is that all the clamps ya got?
Surely you could/should do better....

[Ron Wisdom]

Looking good, Martin. I haven't tried drinking while bending (I did have a beer about 3 years ago), but I did bend three sets of sides this week. One dred (claro walnut) and two OM's with cutaways out of EIR. This was my first time to bend a cutaway, but it went well. Yesterday I bent the curly maple binding for the cutaways and that went well also. I'm starting to feel like I can bend anything.

Ron

[jeffhigh]

Did some padauk ukulele sides last weekend on the bending iron.
Most difficult wood I have done so far, and I had it down to 75 thou.
Had to be bent REALLY HOT and slow but no problems with scorching.

[kiwigeo]

Tantellones in.....

Yes....those outer fan struts are a bit closer to the sides than I would have liked. Shouldnt be a big problem as the top is thinned towards the periphery of the lower bout.

[Craig]

I remember telling you that you're in for a good run after all your mishaps of late , and you've gone and proved that dead right . This is looking good here Martin .You've got me seriously thinking about building one.


Cheers

[kiwigeo]

Sides profiled for the back with 15' radius dished form. Right hand lining glued in.

[Dominic]

I'm with Craig on both counts. I always recon its best to get all your crappy days done in one go. Looks like you are set for a purple patch Martin. Looking good.
And, I've really gotta finish my classical, though its not as classical as yours, I am using a bolt on neck.
Anyway, keep us posted.
Dom

[Allen]

It's pretty inspirational for sure. Makes it look easy enough that even I could do it.

Is this based on any one's particular building style, or one that has evolved with your experience building classicals?

[kiwigeo]

Allen,

I dont know why you steel stringers have this idea that building classicals is harder than building steel strings. I think the opposite is the case....eg no neck/body joint to deal with. This is my third classical and my first steel string was built using the Spanish Method ala Jim Williams book so I guess Ive had a bit of practise with this method of construction.

The guitar Im currently building is basically an unpaid commission....the emphasis is on getting the thing knocked up in a minimum amount of time so there's no experimenting going on. Its the first time Ive used Englemann as a top so the sound of the finished instrument will be interesting compared to the sitka topped previous builds.

[Dave White]

Martin,

This "steel stringer" thinks they are harder to make as given the low string energy, getting good trebles from a classical is way harder than on a steel string. The sheer oomph of steel strings can hide a lot of "mediocrity" of sound - with a classical there is no hiding place (unless you opt to make them as loud as feck a la Smallman ) Hat's off to you nylon string boys and girls

[kiwigeo]

Side reinforcing in place. All that needs doing now is final cleaning up of the internals before I start on the back.

[kiwigeo]

Waiting on purfling from LMI at present so not much happening on the classical. Got the back glued up and back braces have been rough shaped and profiled.

The back is opp grade IRW from Allied and it has alot of silica deposits. Im going to pumice fill prior to french polishing and Im hyoping enough colour will bleed out of the rosewood to stain up the silica deposits.

[Kim Strode]

That's a good looking job so far Martin.

I noticed on the your submitted last image, that you have fairly substantial side braces at the same position as the two top braces running each side of the soundhole. I've never seen side bracing like this and am wondering why you've done it this way?

[kiwigeo]

The side bracing is a bit over the top in the upper bout. I looked at the view after installing the side struts at the end of the upper cross brace and decided that the UTB looked a bit strange without side braces so added them...purely asthetic.