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A nice set of macassar ebony, in a fairly tight cutaway. I have had grain lift on plenty of sides before, always repairable, but not this time. I had thinned the sides to .080", which was apparently not quite enough. I had bent another set from this same board with the same cutaway, and it went fine. This one just wasn't happy, though.

Oh well. Fortunately, I resawed an extra side just in case this happened. Still sucks, though.   

It seems to me the nicer the wood is the more unpredictable it is. Good thing you planned ahead with the extra side.

Good luck with the next bend

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Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

I'm new to this, I've built just 4 guitars and all of them were hand bent. I'm working on my next 2 and I have a new bender from John Hall - Blues Creek Guitars. Those sides bent great but reading this really scares me.
I'm looking to avoid doing the same thing. Are there any techniques to do or avoid that will better ensure that this won't happen, or is this just part of the joys of building guitars?
Sorry about the break Kelby.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

It may be that you did not have it hot enough. Density can vary in Macassar and that may have resulted in more resistance than you would normally have encountered. Normally Macassar is not particularly difficulty to bend. When I am bending a wood that is tough to bend, I use a little more heat and a little bit thinner (.060-.070). If I know the wood is particularly stubborn I almost always bend it by hand as it is the only way I feel assured that I am in control of the tension applied.

I have seen historic guitars with sides that were as thin as 1mm that are still intact (although not a best practice ).

Sorry to hear about that Kelby, can't you make a venitian cutaway with it? If not, this side will be good for either neck laminations or rosettes or wedges, i'm sure you'll find good use for it.

I did the same and just make a fourentine cutaway with the broken side. It required a little thought and the shape of the cutaway was determined by the amount of material I could get out of the side, but it worked. I didn't have an eighth inch of side to spare. I glued the side short of the neckblock and point block by a quarter inch, to allow room for the binding. I actually enjoyed building a fourentine, which I had never done before. I followed the procedure outlined in the LMI catalog (the one you pay for) by Ervin Sam...(I can't say it less spell it).

[QUOTE=ToddStock]
No problem - I'll at least use the back, which of course cracked as soon as I flexed it for a stiffness check. This set may as well have been glass for it's brittle nature. [/QUOTE]

Probably the set got oven baked along with some tops

Thanks, everyone.

It is possible that it wasn't hot enough. Someone had fiddled with my temperature knob on my blanket, and I put it in the place it has always worked in the past, but I could have been off a little.

I'm going to try sanding the cutaway area on the next side to around .070" and turning up the heat a bit.

I would love to make it a Florentine, but this side broke in so many ways in the cutaway area that it isn't possible.