Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm sure many of you have used quilted sapele for your guitars. I would
welcome any advice on bending this wood using a side bending machine. I
have bent maple and rosewood without any problems, but this will be my
first use of a highly figured wood.

Thanks, Robert mauror38560.4379861111

A few here have reported success when using "Super Soft II" veneer softener on the material. (I have not tried it yet, but probably will for a figured Bubinga set I have.) Here's a recent thread from the OLF archives: Bob Cefalu on Super Soft II

I will thin the sides down to probably around .075", and may scrape the area that will be inside of my cutaway even a little bit thinner.

I will also wet my sides, wrap them in damp paper towel, wrap that in aluminum foil, and sandwich my sides between 2 sheets of .010 blue tempered spring steel. I'll use a silicone heating blanket, on a solid male form. I hope to go slowly enough not to break the sides, but quickly enough not to dry them out.

This is all from info gleaned from both the luthierforum and the luthiersforum, and not from my experience. I have only bent one set of EI Rosewood sides, and that was relatively easy (even with a deep S cutaway.)

You might want to do a search here of the archives of "bending" and "figured", and there are a bunch of real luthiers here that can speak from experience and not just theory like me.

Good luck, and happy bending! Please document your technique, and show your results here. Whether they turn out perfect, or something less than perfect, we will all learn something.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Just thin them to your requirements and tape them to the sides with four pieces of tape and bend them with your sides.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

I just bent a set a few days ago, and it was really easy. I just bent it as I
would any normal Mahogany.

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

John Mayes you have that magic touch my friend.

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Bob is right! I used John's technique to bend that replacement set of Sapele sides that I mentioned here a while back. They came out perfect.

Thanks again John!

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

I'm kind of surprised that the consenses so far seems to be "just go for it - like bending Mahogany." Is this because the discussion is about quilted Sapele and not some other figured wood? I recall reading quite a few posts (here and on other forums) about problems with bending highly figured wood. (Cracking, breaking, faceting, blistering, grain separation...) I know some of the posts were more specific to figured Bubinga, but not all of them.

I'm confident that some of you guys could probably bend a sheet of antique glass over a hot pipe while performing an Irish step dance, but that speaks to your experience. Aren't there some caveats for bending figured wood that you would mention to a beginner or relative beginner?

Thanks,

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

It just depends. Some highly figured stuff bends without much difficulty... maple, koa, etc. No problems (beyond the go slow and becareful... general advice). But that waterfall bubinga is really tough. Each wood is going to have it's own nuances.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

yeah this wood bends easy...

The biggest thing with figured woods is like brock said. Go slow.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

Thanks to all for sharing their knowledge and experience!!!

It does depend alot on the wood, I find Bubinga and some of the ebonies to be the worst, mind you I currently bend everything by hand. I am just in the process of switching over to a bending machine.

[QUOTE=mauror] Thanks to all for sharing their knowledge and
experience!!![/QUOTE]
WARNING. SHAMELESS PLUG BELOW....

I have some DVD's on building, and one includes side bending. You may
want to check them out. If so go on over to www.mayesmusic.com and
have a peek. If not.. well then continue on!

_________________
John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com