Official Luthiers Forum!

As a new builder I'm learning about cutaways. I've recently done my first Florentine cutaway - and learned a lot in the process that I will apply to the next one. I'm sure I have a lot of questions about Forentines - but today's question is about Venetian cutaways.

Are there woods that you just won't try to bend into a Venetian style cutaway? I would suspect that some woods just wouldn't like that tight bend at the tip.

Based on comments from other builders I'm betting that the Waterfall Bubinga I'm working with now would fall into that category.

Are there other woods you just would avoid trying to bend that tight? If so - what are they?

FYI - I have a set of Celebes Ebony and a set of Ziricote in my stash and am wondering if these are workable in a Venetian style.

Personally I prefer the Forentine style - but as I said - trying to learn.

Thanks as always!

_________________
P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

Paul, the only wood I think is scary to bend for a Venetian cutaway is Bubinga. Other woods are easier.... nut as easy as EIR or Walnut but doable. Ebonies tend to be a bit stubborn so I thin them out a bit more which helps the bend and also keeps the weight down. I'd go about .070" on the cutaway area for that. Oh, go slow!

_________________
Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

OK - since we've never done a Venetian your comment above brings this question.

Do you actually thickness the cutaway area different than the rest of the side?

How do you do this? Scrape? Sand?

_________________
P A U L B U R N E R
Burner Guitars

From what I read here, a lot of people thin the cutaway area more than the rest. I never did a cutaway yet but I sometimes thinned the waist on my builds more than the rest, when I thought the wood might be nasty, or after I bent one of the sides and it went slowly I thinned the second. I use a plane to do all thicknessing. You could use a scraper but it will take a lot of scraping to put a meaningful difference. A pad with 80 grit might be faster. If you use a sanding machine, I imagine you can just feed the piece for about 1/3 of it's length for a couple more passes or whatever is needed.

_________________
Build log

I bent the sides for the Waterfall Bubinga OM cutaway wedge back in October with Supersoft and it bent as easy as untreated EIR or Cocobolo. I sanded the sides to .085 and bent, I was very apprehensive as I was bending but it went real well. This was only the 3rd set I had bent with a Fox style bender and a heat blanket, the 1st was Cocobolo and the second an EIR cutaway. Since then I have bent a Brazilian RW cutaway an EIR 12 fret 000 and a Honduran Mahogany set for Tim Sheldon, though Tim did all the work.
I am finally beginning to relax and enjoy bending.

Fred

_________________
Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866