Official Luthiers Forum!

I think this stuff has been posted here before,

http://www.flutedbeams.com/home.html

but last I saw, no one had tried it. I know some people think heavy-duty, rigid sides are a good thing. So, has anyone tried it yet? I played with some at the woodworking show in November, and it really is bendable wood. Sets when it dries.

You could have 1 inch think sides, cold bent, and no linings or laminating needed. No end block or heel block. You could dovetail the sides together instead of doing an end wedge. You could even rabbit in the top and not need to worry about bindings. It'd be a little on the heavy side though. But think about how it could be carved, and you could sit on it.

I think it was pretty pricey though, even by luthiery standards.

Mike

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Mike Lindstrom

Wow, what a product. The cons I can readily think of, besides price, are unknown long term reliability, having to find a matching back, and the fact that from a resource standpoint, producing it creates a large amount of "expensive firewood". According to the site, they are in the process of testing BRW- I can't imagine they mean true D. Nigra, but who knows?
I would just love to have some to play with, though......

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It's not the miles ahead, it's the stone in your shoe


In Markham,Virginia

There is a guy here who used it for sides and linings.
Apparently, it worked quite well -- I think he bent the sides at some astronomical thickness... didn't use linings on that guitar with it's 1/4" or 1/2" thick sides....

Thanks

John

About 25 years ago I made a guitar with a rigid maple frame. The sides aren't bent, but they're about 3/4" thick. It sounds a lot like a banjo. The top is thin cedar and the back is thin pine.