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Not sure what's happening, Murray and I would be interested to know the details too.

The dreaded green color has happened to dozens of OLFers throughout the years though and the fix seems to be keeping Koa and Blackwood out of direct contact with anything metal including foil.

So after all my proud side bending I've messed one up, misplaced the waist marker and rather than a two inch wide tail wedge I'd like to try to rebend it. It bent no problem with a spray of super soft, an hours drying and then foreleg following John's instructions. Is it likely to work? Thinking of flattening and then rebending. Thanks all,
Mike.

It's flamed maple.

Mild alkalinity will turn blackwood (Aus. Blackwood/Black Acacia) green, then black if sufficiently concentrated. The source will be either the water supply (hard water/calcium carbonate, typically) or through handling and transfer of alkaline sweat/oils from hands (or both). Ferrous ions reacting with tannins in the wood tend to produce a black stain.

I bend blackwood using stainless steel slats, no wrapping and filtered rain water (I'm not on mains water) and I've never had a staining problem. Koa likely reacts the same way given their close relationship. I've never had a problem with bending Koa, but I've not tried staining it, either.

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Trevor Gore, Luthier. Australian hand made acoustic guitars, classical guitars; custom guitar design and build; guitar design instruction.

http://www.goreguitars.com.au

I thought it was the Hawaiian flora and fauna coming back out of the wood.

I've done a few sets of Koa in a bender with SS slats, no paper or foil. Always a minimal amount of green that easily sanded out.

Drat!

Flamed Maple eh,

You can do it!

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Alex .. get yourself a mailbox from one of the services in Niagara Falls NY .. either CBIUSA, or American mailbox .... both offer free services (no subscription fee, free storage) and a 6 bucks per package pickup ... had one for a year now and its been great for stuff that SM wont ship to Canada, or stuff on Ebay or others with free shipping in the US

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

I think one company is called Kinect, and Alex would probably be better off with the one around the thousand islands.

But Tony's right. I've done Niagara Falls and the Thousand Islands and they're both easy. You still have to declare it when you come back and pay HST, but that's life.

One piece of advice when going into the States to pick up your package though. They'll ask how long you're gonna stay. About half an hour. Then they'll ask the purpose of your visit.

Don't say "tourism."

Trust me on this one

Steve

Tony and Steve, thanks for the great info! What I might do, is have any purchases delivered to my cousin in Grosse Pointe, spend a weekend with her, and get together with a bunch more of my Michigan relatives, as well.
I'm planning on a trip to A&M next week, so I'll get a bottle of their' veneer softener, and give it a try. I'm on the lookout for a drum sander, so I'll have to be restrained with the wallet!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker