MIMF

Barry Daniels wrote: ↑Sat May 20, 2023 1:55 pm I think it looks real good and would like to see how you do it. Bending curly maple in that small of a radius is not an easy task.

Thanks, Barry. I'll take a lot of photos when I do the next one.

-Eric

Hello, all. I have been trying hard to figure out how to bind an elliptical side port. I like the looks of them more than circles but they sure are a challenge. Here's my latest trial and I'd like to know what people think. side-port-good - 1.jpeg side-port-good - 3.jpeg The binding is three layers ...

These are all great suggestions. My current guitars might need some binding though. The sides are laminated and I'm not sure how good it would look to show them. They are very stiff and strong already and don't need more reinforcement for side ports. Here's a photo of the edges of the sides. One is ...

Hello, I'm trying out making a side port on my next guitar. I have an elliptical hole cut on a test piece that is quite good. Since the sides are laminated I want to bind the edges of the port. How do you all do this? It doesn't seem trivial.

Thanks,

-Eric

These are great tips on successful ways to bend. Just to be clear though, what I was referring to was just for basswood laminations. I have yet to try some really difficult show-layer woods but that's coming. I'm saving these tips for then. Thanks.

-Eric

Bryan Bear wrote: ↑Thu May 04, 2023 10:39 am You don't call it anything. That is just being a dad. When a guy says he is babysitting (when talking about his own kids) he implies that he feels like that is not really his job and he is doing something nice for his wife.

What Brian said.

-Eric

I've never successfully bent Basswood. I'm going to try Barry's numbers, too. I've often thought a veneer stack of 8, glued and bent and left to dry in the bender, would make good laminated linings for guitars worthy of Heavenly Angels. I'll probably try that. After many trials I was able to bend b...

I only have a very vague understanding of the concept of making the sides heavier and increasing the impedance at the rim. Alan you say 'keep the sound in the top' that makes intuitive sense to me but I struggle with what that actually sounds like. Or maybe the better question to ask is what is the...

I have used two layers of standard veneer thickness (0.023") with a show layer around .050". This makes for very strong and stiff sides. You could definitely go thinner. Wow, I'm over-building and over-thinking. I have one show layer that is 0.050". I was thinking of using two layers...

Hi, everyone.

I'm using laminated sides for my next two guitars. How many layers do you use? How thick do the sides usually get? Do you use linings with them? If so, how thick is the lining?

Thanks,

-Eric

For laminated sides I usually go with a 0.050" outer layer and a true veneer inside with a thickness of around 0.023". Fifty thou makes a very bendable layer. I'm going to aim for those numbers and see how it goes. One thing I discovered with aluminum foil is that folding the foil over th...

It needs to be thinner. About 0.080" should work. Are you using an electric blanket? What do you do for adding moisture pre-bend? Yes, I used an electric blanket. I lightly spritzed the wood and wrapped it in aluminum foil. I did the bending at 300ºF. 0.08" is about 2mm. Would it work eve...

Hello, I'm experimenting with making laminated sides. I have some nice basswood that I thought might work for an inner ply. I thinned some to 2.8mm/0.11" and bent it in my LMI bender. Here's the results, pretty bad. sm-bending-issues - 1.jpeg Are there some approaches for bending softer woods w...

Barry Daniels wrote: ↑Tue Feb 21, 2023 7:40 pm That saddle needs a lot of shaping so that it doesn't detract from the beauty of the guitar.

Absolutely, I wanted to get this guitar playable as I'm just a rookie and it's exciting.

I'm now looking for examples of good looking wider saddles and I'll share what I do.

-Eric

Hi Eric That guitar looks really fine in the shot next to the Gibson. The top colour is especially nice. The wide saddle gives you lots of real estate to dial in the intonation. One comment - I think you could shape the back side of the saddle more, to slope it down towards the pin holes. Perhaps t...

That would be a 1/4" saddle, not a 14" saddle. Heh.

I didn't have the bridge placement tool when I glued the bridge on my second guitar. It ended up too close to the nut and the intonation was not good enough. I improved it by making a 14" saddle out of a piece of antler I had from a pet store. That store sells antlers that are cut in half lengh...

A quick aside. I was asked in a private message about the fingerboard extension on my neck. I can’t reply to that newer member as they have disabled their PMs. Here’s what I tried to send them: That’s called an elevated fingerboard. Here’s a link that describes it better than I can. https://theartof...

One way to make absolutely sure where your saddle needs to be is to put small pieces of finish nails as temporary saddles on the bridge and move them back and forth until your intonation is spot on for each string. You might need a small strip of wood in the existing saddle slot that makes a flush ...

I’m not sure what I see on the placement in the first picture. Which side of the nut do the pins mark? The pins are set to the compensation. They are supposed to be at the leading edge of the saddle toward the nut. The pins are on the other side of the saddle. The saddle slot is 1/8” wide so the br...