Official Luthiers Forum!

Well....i need some help with this....I knew it would be a bugger to do but really found out after i was in the middle of my first attemps!

It is Bloodwoood I'm putting around the fretboard. The tight radius's are wearing on my patience but I will prevail...lol.

The Bloodwood is thicknessed and "needs to be!" at about .090... I have tried bending on a hot pipe as well as a woodburning tool (trying to get the tight radius)...but have failed with both. The wood seems to only bend so far and breaks..

I even tried bending with the wood brought down to around .060 but still had problems....

Any advice will certainly be of some help!

Maybe more patience is the key!....?

Thanks,
Jeff

What about just cutting the shape from a flat piece? Won't have the nice grain direction, but if the wood just isn't capable of bending far enough, it's an option.

You could try laminating two .030" pcs. onto a test block the same size as your fretbd end...

I've done exactly what Dennis said when using purpleheart at about that thickness. I cut it out of a solid piece, filed and sanded it to shape and glued in.

I'd try multiple pieces like Terry suggested. Dennis gives a good suggestion too. I doubt you'll ever be able to bend .090" bloodwood to that shape.

_________________
I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Are you using a backing strip? Try using a metal strap to hold on top of the wood as you bend it to help provide even pressure across the entire bend. I find that helps a lot.

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

Bloodwood will crack if there's the slightest runout in your piece. .090" is too thick for that wood to bend without trouble. Dennis suggestion sounds the best, and fastest to me.

_________________
Laurent Brondel
West Paris, Maine - USA
http://www.laurentbrondel.com/

i'm sure the point needs a miter. and how about trying some super-duper-soft and see what happens. put your little pieces in a super-soft bath for a few hours and then see if it bends.

Thanks for all the responses! Actually I thought of the lamination idea and also cutting out a piece to fit but wanted to ask the question and see what kind of answers I would get.

The lamination idea maybe the best route!

Thanks,
Jeff

It probably wont matter at all with Bloodwood, but when I have needed to make a laminate look like a solid, I resawed the strips, making an angled notch on the end grain (or a pencil line), and then reassembled the strips in the same sequence for the glue-up. If your glue lines are close to perfect, it's difficult to tell it is made from laminates. Again, that tip may not be needed here, but keep it in your back pocket and it may come in handy some time.

Dennis

_________________
Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Why not just make the shape less complicated?

Dave F.

_________________
Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

Hi Dave,
well I like the the shape an design....Its what I did on my last two guitars , but without binding the fretboard.....This time I wanted to try to bind the fretboard....I guess its the challenge more than anything!

Thanks,
Jeff

You could always just bind the sides of the fretboard and don't worry about that part at all.

_________________
Thanks,
Blain

http://www.ullrichguitar.com

"89.67% of all statistics are made up on the spot."

I used Super-Soft II on .090 curly maple binding for the bend on a 5 string banjo neck. Very flexible. mt

I faced a similar challenge in binding the f-holes on my first archtop and got the following directions from Anthony Z (I can't remember his last name). First, you need to thin the binding down to around .060. Then use a soldering iron as your bending iron (not a small one, but one with a shaft radius similar to your bend) plugged into a rheostat to control the temperature. Make a caul the same shape as bend and clamp tightly in the caul until cool. I will probably get dinged for this, but I have found it useful to soften the binding with heat and a bit of moisture when gluing up a tough bend. No question it is better to get a perfect bended fit, but I have trouble doing that consistently. You also might find some insights in mandolin threads where binding a scroll is discussed.

_________________
Kevin Mason
Mason Guitars and Ukuleles on Facebook
http://masonguitars.net

trace your end contour on a fret board thick block about 3 inches or so wide ...cut out carefully on your bandsaw or better...a scroll saw. Use both block pieces and your form. glue and clamp multiple thin veneers of your bloodwood between your blocks. You may need to alter the shape of your outer block the more laminations you glue. You can do a couple at a time or try all laminations at once...I'd do 2 at a time until you reach desired width + a little xtra. You can then have that bit extra to file to match profile exactly for gluing.

I've used this method (enlarged ) for laminating compound curved staircases that were impossible to bend any other way.
Just a thought.

Kent

_________________
Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
EXCELLENCE IN SCULPTURE, CARVING, LUTHIER, ARCHITECTURAL MILLWORK AND DESIGN

http://www.kabart.com

Well... I laminated the binding and I think all went pretty good.
Thanks for all the tips!

Jeff

Nice work......that turn out well!

_________________
I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic