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Anyone out there making their own herring bone purfs? Gave it one shot so far, it looked cool but was done out of pieces to coarse to bend so I am looking for any tips you may have. Thanks.

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Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/

I downloaded this a long time ago, I can't remember from where. Might be useful.

Very nice description, thanks for forwarding the pdf.

It looks a bit like the pdf could have been assembled from Michael F. Lazar's post here. Couldn't find it on Michael F. Lazar's own website.

Brian,
I made the herringbone purflings for my first guitar and like you, I found it difficult to bend into place until I got the crazy idea of heating them with a woodburning pen with the tip removed. I just rolled the shaft of the pen on them and they relaxed and bent right into place (gotta be careful not to scorch the wood though).
I really think that it worked so well because I used TB1 for the assembly and glueing in place, and glued the herringbone to the border lines (in my case BWB, each being .020" making a total of .060" on each side) before installation just to make sure that the herringbone didn`t seperate during bending. The total width of the purfling is .225", not counting the binding, which is pretty wide, now that I take another look at it. BTW, I bent them dry.
The woods I used at that time were walnut and maple, being very pliable woods to start with.
I hope this helps.
Coe Franklin

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Give me 50 cents worth of regular.
Check my oil too, if you don`t mind,,,

Brian,

I make my own and always make a bit extra because as you said, it can be difficult to bend cleanly. I use titebond II or III and bend slowly and on a fairly high heat on the pipe. I would say heating up a large area and then focussing on the bend makes all the difference. If I focus on one spot at a time it almost always breaks. That is the nice thing about the electric LMI bender, it has a nice flat-ish area on the side.

Here is my toughest challenge, a double row glued up and then bent as one so all the points lined up. Took a couple tries. I'm not sure I would try it again but at least it worked once!

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I made up sets of maple /walnut using the photos in bogdanovich book on classical gtr making. I have yet to bend them . I have a woodburning pen .Great idea.

Thanks for all the great input. I'm gonna give another go on my next guitar, if at first you don't succeed........

_________________
Brian

You never know what you are capable of until you actually try.

https://www.howardguitarsdelaware.com/