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Are you wondering how cherry bends?
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Author:  old man [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 6:18 am ]
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Just thought I'd share this with you. I'm making twin curly cherry dreds . The first set of sides were thinned to .08 and bent fine. Then I joined and thicknessed tops and backs. Initially I thickness them to 1/8" (.125). Then yesterday I thicknessed my other sides and bent them. I guess I still had tops and backs on my mind because I thicknessed the sides to .125. I spritzed them with distilled water, and bent in my Fox style bender with three 150watt bulbs, and it still bent like butter. After I noticed the thickness, I was amazed they didn't crack.    Of course, because of the extra weight, I'll thin them down after assembly, but I thought you might like to know how pliable cherry wood is.

Ron
Author:  CarltonM [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:26 am ]
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Ron,

It might be interesting to leave the sides as they are, to check the "stiff sides" theory. Especially since you've got a twin guitar with thin sides. I know it would be an expensive test in both time and resources if the thick one doesn't sound good, but it sure would be educational to see which one is the more responsive.
Author:  Don Williams [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 7:40 am ]
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I've bent cherry around some pretty tight corners when making Shaker Oval Boxes. It bends beautifully most of the time, but if it has runout, it can blow apart like any other wood. I actually built a good dozen or two of those to make learning to bend guitar sides easier.
It didn't help. I practiced on cherry, and then bent guitar sides of ziricote...very different woods!
Author:  burbank [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:08 am ]
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Ron,

Thanks for the info. I expect I'll be using cherry before too long.

Pat
Author:  Michael McBroom [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 8:33 am ]
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Thanks for the info, Ron. I've got about 10bf of cherry here that I scavanged from a neighbor's trash pile and I've been debating on whether or not I should use it for guitars, or just build a small table or something out of it. Now I'm leaning toward guitars.

Best,

Michael
Author:  old man [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 9:33 am ]
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[QUOTE=CarltonM] Ron,

It might be interesting to leave the sides as they are, to check the "stiff sides" theory. Especially since you've got a twin guitar with thin sides. I know it would be an expensive test in both time and resources if the thick one doesn't sound good, but it sure would be educational to see which one is the more responsive.[/QUOTE]


That's a good idea, Carlton. I'm going to try and get the weights of both rib assemblies and see how much they differ at this point. My first guitar was on the heavy side but it sure does sound fine. If it doesn't look like the weight will be a problem, I may just leave it as is and do the study.

Ron
Author:  Todd Rose [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 11:50 am ]
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I'm just starting to build a guitar with curly cherry back and sides, my first use of this wood for a guitar. I'll be bending the sides on a hot pipe. I hope my luck is as good as your was, Ron.
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 12:32 pm ]
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I've built a lot wkith cherry, it is one of my very favorite woods, maybe the best for me. I've always found it to bend easily, and it finishes really good too. Don't try to stain it without sealing it first, or it may get blotchy on you...but under amber shellac it is great stuff.
I'd leave those sides thick. Some builders use double sides, or just thick ones. It won't hurt the tone, maybe it'll help! This picture is kinda dark but you can see how this curly set worked out.
Mark Swanson38898.8989351852
Author:  hogan [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:29 pm ]
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I am working on a cherry dobro. I too found it to bend easily. But it was the first time that I had bent sides. The first one that I built is mahogany, and I had a friend to bend the sides. On this one, I built a bender and did it myself. Not perfect, but not bad. I look forward to hearing how it sounds. Pictures coming soon.
Author:  hogan [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:31 pm ]
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Mark, that is a nice guitar. What finish did you use?
Author:  MSpencer [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 1:36 pm ]
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Thanks Ron, like the other folks, I secured me a couple of sets from BobC not long ago and am really looking forward to working with it. It should be some relief on bending after working with two guitars using Bubinga which was not as easy to bend as I was hoping.

Mike
White Oak, Texas
Author:  Alain Desforges [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:18 pm ]
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In his 'Luthier's Handbook' Siminoff says that thick sides will help tone. I don't know if that's true or not. On my current build, I've used EIR and those are around .110 - .120... But then again, I'll have nothing to compare it to...
Author:  Serge Poirier [ Fri Jun 30, 2006 2:54 pm ]
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Thanks for sharing ypour input Ron, glad to hear it turned out well for you. I'd leave them thick also, i think it will help the sound also but after experimenting and letting her opening up, if not satisfied, you'd still have a go at sanding it down with an inflatable drum sander on your drill.
Author:  Mark Swanson [ Sat Jul 01, 2006 12:57 am ]
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Thanks Hogan, it's just shellac under nitro lacquer.
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