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As a longtime budding luthier (and engineer with a tendency towards jigs) and one who is just starting to get the hang of bending on a pipe, I agree with you fully. I also think this is one skill that is by far best taught in person by an experienced builder.

My first bending experiences were pretty frustrating and unsuccessful, but it is hard to translate textual forum advice for such a tactile-response-based process, and at that time there wasn't the wealth of video-sharing that there is today. I was blessed to have met Wes Grierson, side-bender extraordinaire at George Lowden's shop in N. Ireland when my wife and I were eloping/honeymooning there. Wes came to the states a few weeks later to play a show at our local university where my wife worked, so I was able to have Wes over for a personal lesson on side-bending on the pipe. I mostly watched, but he explained the process as he went about bending a florentine cutaway piece with which I had struggled. It didn't take long to figure out what I had been doing wrong. Just being able to observe the hand placement and timing of it all really helped it click in my brain.

I went back more recently and bent another florentine cutaway piece just to make sure I understood what I was shown and it went pretty well. I also practiced on some scrap flamed maple binding, I had broken several before just trying to do minor touchups for a better fit. Now I feel like I can bend them nearly any which way I want. I still need to practice a lot more to really get it down, but I'm miles ahead from where I was.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Great post Filippo!

I could not agree more with you, Filippo. I second the rec for the "Soulcraft" book.

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

Hot pipe bending is much more than just a learning experience. When put into practice it can free you up from having to create elaborate fixturing every time you want to try a new shape (plantilla) or perhaps replicate an antique design. Depending on your style of mold, you can easily make pretty much anything you want.
Many subtle profiles are easier to create this way and a hot pipe bent side is easier to work with as well. You don't need an elaborate mold to keep the "spring back" under control, and it allows those of you who are making classical guitars with the Spanish method to "free build" without the use of a form at all. In addition using pipe bent wood bindings, which can be precision fit to the instrument makes this process much easier.

I agree, and I bought one of John's blankets last year at ASIA, but I, so far, have deferred to the pipe. It really is "intimate" in it's own way. I take my time, and make stuff fit. When I'm done, my sides fit the top, and there is no spring back. Yes it takes me a couple of hours to do a set of sides, but I don't have to leave them overnight in a press, or any of that. I can bend and go. I have the original of my first practice bend, and it has been banging around my shop for several years now, and it will still fit the form. Once you get the feel, you can actually move pretty quickly. I have seen videos of people bending, that are so quick that you couldn't set up a form in the same time. I know consistency is important, but as long as you work to a mold or some template, it isn't an issue. I can actually see where a blanket would be better and easier for bindings than for sides.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Agree with the post.....
Love my pipe....and try not to smoke it.
I always experiment with a small piece of what I am bending and notice all bend differently...dry/spritzed/soaked....whatever. Gives me a chance to feel it out before bending a super side set.
Kent

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Wood Creations by Kent A. Bailey
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And Jonathan, there's nothing quite as romantic as bending guitar wood on your honeymoon!
Craig

Hey, the bending lesson wasn't on the honeymoon! The Lowden tour and ordering of a new guitar was, though... I picked a good one (wife, the guitar's not so bad, either).

Back to side bending... That first time you "feel" the wood give against the pipe is a lot like the first time using a well-tuned plane to make super-thin shavings or cutting a miter with a sharp chisel. Very satisfying.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR