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I would like to know everyone's opinion on bending by hand or by machine (like the lmi bending machine)

i´ve only bent by hand, and it was indian rosewood. at least with that wood, it was relatively easy - and a wonderfully tactile experience. 1st time i started at the upper bout and got problems getting the waist right. 2nd time i started at the waist and it was much easier. a damp cloth (as suggested by a fellow OLFer) helped there.

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member of the guild of professional dilettantes

I think every builder should learn to hand bend first. It is a skill that you will need at some point even if you primarily bend by machine. Often a side will come out of the bender and need to be touched up a bit on a hand iron before it is ready to use. I built 50 guitars hand bending and have just about finished 50 using a machine. I'm a fairly fast hand bender but still not as quick as using a machine. Machine bending can be a real time saver, but I use the skills I developed bending by hand at some point on every build.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
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This has been discussed a lot, a search should yield plenty of opinions. I am set up to do both but I prefer the hot pipe. It is one of my favorite parts of the process. I have the luxury of not having to work fast so I can spend time doing it by hand and enjoy myself. I can see how a production guy would prefer the machine. Sometimes I will cook my bent sides on the machine after I'm done to really get the shape locked in (but often I don't bother).

Even if you intend to us a machine, you will want to learn to bend on the pipe to touch up or do custom one off things. Just make a cheap pipe and try it. Again plenty of discussions on making the pipe, mine is just scrap pipe, a charcoal starter and a dimmer switch. It is more intimidating than it is difficult to bend on a pipe. Make sure you are getting you stock thinned enough and consistently, then just try it. You'll be hooked!

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Me used Pot.

Thats right! Me clamped a pot handle in a vise, fired up the pot with a propane torch and bent like that, was only about 5 years ago me came a cross a BBQ starter at Rev. Jim's Junk Store for $2 which me shoved in a chunck of tail pipe and abandon the pot. Yup me and that pot were the best of friends for many many years.

It was only this spring that me build a bender box kinda jig thingme with some light bulbs and thats cuz me took it into me head to do a run of funkie experimental carved top parlours and needed to standardize as much of the box as possible in order to compaire results.

Otherwise me mucho prefer hand bending, cuz building a bender for one offs is a hassle, costs money and time and just ain't worth it.

blessings
?adma

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Audiences and dispensations on Thursdays ~ by appointment only.


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A big consideration is how many guitars of a specific shape you plan on making. If you plan on making multiples of one size then a bending form makes sense. If you intend to make one-offs then time to hit the pipe.

Peter

I am a hobby builder and started out making fiddles and violins. I worked in a fully equipped fab shop and I made my own Bending irons with Stainless pipe and a cartridge heater. The other one is 1 1/4" copper pipe with a cartridge heater. Both are ran through a dimmer switch. I enjoy bending by hand and have no plans to switch. When I started bending guitar sides, it was not nearly as tricky as violin/fiddle ribs.

Here is one of my video's covering bending by hand.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9jf8J6rt6ng

I've a couple more too on my You Tube channel going more into detail.

It's a skill worth learning and one of the few particular to our trade.

This year I've actually built a side bending machine (bendzilla!)



The learning curve isn't so steep but go "by hand" first - there is much satisfaction to be had from the process.

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nigel

http://www.theluthierblog.com

I agree with Peter. If you have a production line in mind then bending machines are the go. If you are a weekend warrior like me then it is a bit of over extension. Bear in mind that historically hand bending has built the great instruments, it's not a difficult skill to acquire.

My feeling exactly. My bending pipe takes a minute to set up and I don't have any forms to store. I can bend two sides in about 30 minutes. If I made 10 or more of the same body per year, I'd probably make a bending machine. But for now, the pipe makes more sense