sMg Guitars

January 11, 2009

Looking for things to do on the 12 string until the sides arrive, I test bend the crapped out walnut to see how it would do in the bender.  At 4.5mm, the sides cracked when I used the bender.  I half suspected this.  Also recognized that grain direction is important especially near the tight bend on the upper bout.  Will account for that when I postion the sides in the bender.  Also, if I get them down to 3mm, I should have not problems.

Also, trimmed the top to a skosh larger than final size.

After testing out the bender, decided I could go ahead and bend the curly maple and purfling.

This is the sandwich of binding and purfling in the bender prior to clamping down.

After cooling, I removed from the bender (nicely bent) and placed in the mold to hold the shape in anticipation of installation.