000 butternut twins update
Posted: Tue Apr 20, 2021 10:20 am
You might remember last month I posted about my plan to build two similar lightweight 000 sized guitars from butternut and Engelmann spruce, one with a traditional center sound hole, the other with multiple sound holes and an asymmetric bracing layout. At the time, I said I’d post periodic updates. So here’s the first update and current state of the builds. Both tops and backs are fully braced and voiced. One set of sides are bent, profiled and have neck block, tail block, and linings installed. Ready for the first (center sound hole) body to be assembled.
For the curious, the butternut I have for the sides is perfectly vertical grain. The waist and upper/lower bouts bent without a hitch on my fox-style bender. The cutaway was a bit problematic. After trying a couple of different things unsuccessfully, what finally worked was to thin the side to .075” and completely soak the cutaway area in water for a couple of hours. I was then able to successfully bend the cutaway on a hot pipe using a sopping wet paper towel to provide plenty of steam. I did end up with a tiny spot of compression on the inside of the cutaway bend but I should be able to scrape / sand a bit to remove that. So far, so good.
For the curious, the butternut I have for the sides is perfectly vertical grain. The waist and upper/lower bouts bent without a hitch on my fox-style bender. The cutaway was a bit problematic. After trying a couple of different things unsuccessfully, what finally worked was to thin the side to .075” and completely soak the cutaway area in water for a couple of hours. I was then able to successfully bend the cutaway on a hot pipe using a sopping wet paper towel to provide plenty of steam. I did end up with a tiny spot of compression on the inside of the cutaway bend but I should be able to scrape / sand a bit to remove that. So far, so good.