Official Luthiers Forum!

Greetings all my luthier friends! A general question...I have previously made a serviced kit, or bent my sides at another luthier's shop. I made a bending machine and will do my own from now on. I am also making a uke. So.....I wondered where everyone had bought their bending blankets/controllers from. Also, John Hall told me that you can't (or shouldn't) use a full-sized guitar bending blanket for the uke sides because the ends of the blanket hanging out from the form will make the blanket not work or heat properly. Does anyone have any comments to make on that. Obviously, I would rather not spend the money to buy two different blankets. Also, the uke blanket I found on John's site is still a bit longer than my concert uke sides will be, so will another say, 10' length make a big difference?

Thanks for the input! Beth

oops, I meant "will another 10 INCH length make a difference"......

running a blanket open to air can cause them to overheat if not contacting somthing

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

John may be right, I've never made a uke so I don't know, but if I were to make a uke or two I would risk using my full size blanket. If I was really worried about it, (mind you, I doubt if I would be) I would clamp some wood around the free end or ends and call it a day.

I would invest in some way to measure the temperature of the blanket though.

Beth:
I know that Quine has built several ukuleles and his blanket came from bluescreek guitars. You should PM him if you don't get a satisfactory answer here.

I assume that you already have a guitar blanket. If you don't have one yet, check out the shoppe at Hana Lima. They have the correct size for ukulele.

I still use a lightbulb powered bender using two 150 watt bulbs and find it adequate if you take your time. I am set up with a base plate and I can build various molds for the instrument that I want (tenor, tenor-pineapple, baritone, bouzouki). I will bend my first guitar in a couple of weeks. Same power base and different shapes with flashing aluminum bending surface.

Bob

You can custom order the size you want at Omega Engineering. I use 2.5 W/sq. in. for my guitar side bender since it allows me to use an standard inexpensive dimmer and timer rated at 550W. Maybe with a uke size you can get under 550W total with a 5 W/sq. in. blanket. 2.5 has worked really well for me so far, but a lot of knowledgeable folks will advise to use the 5W.

http://www.omega.com/ppt/pptsc.asp?ref= ... Nav=heam01


(edit: scroll to the bottom to the little menu for the custom sizes)

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Thanks for that Omega link, Jonathan.

A LOT cheaper than buying from a luthier supply place, it seems. For a guitar-sized blanket, (6x36), $85 at Omega.

Cheers
John

You have to look at the quality of what you are buying.

Omega is offering their blankets as a lower cost alternative. The silicone potting is not nearly as thick, and I am not sure if is fiberglass matrixed, or just plain old silicone base encapsulant. John's prices are really quite good considering what you would pay for his level quality directly from manufacturers (like Brisk Heat, etc...) Or from industrial suppliers, like McMaster. For example, look at McMaster at their heavy duty silicone heating blankets, vs. their flexible silicone heat strips...That would be the same difference between John's and Omega's.

I professionally laminate solar arrays and have spent some deal of time researching this area. I use Omega-type blankets for initial protoyping (or make my own) and then when I am set on a geometry and output/ heating factor, I usually move to the real deal, which are significantly more robust. You just have to understand what you are buying.

Stephen

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www.ziegenfussguitars.com

Todd, Stephen-
Good points.
It would be useful if more people actually used brand names when talking about products like heating blankets, and were more candid with comments on construction/quality issues. (Thanks, Stephen). There was a recent discussion about problems with blankets delaminating (MIMF) but for various reasons the brand and supplier wasn't mentioned.

Actually I wasn't even thinking about John Hall when I mentioned the Omega price. I've dealt with John a couple of times- excellent support and service- something to factor in to the price, since you may have a problem with the product 'down the line'.

I have a few bending blankets-
Benchmark from LMII- guitar-size and various repair-size blankets.
Protherm from ?? (I don't recall if I bought this from another OLFer in a swap meet, or from John Hall...it has the 'raised wire' pattern showing through the silicone).
They all seem to work OK, but admittedly only get occasional use here with me.

John Hall bends hundreds of sides for his kit offerings, so his ideas on 'what works' in a blanket mean a lot!

Cheers
John

Thanks guys,
I was away from the site for a couple of days after posting my question and appreciate all the input. I too have had really good dealings with John Hall and will happily buy from him to get the better quality. However, I do not yet have a guitar blanket and was hoping to "cheap out" and buy just the guitar one, for both guitar and uke building. Maybe the idea of clamping some scrap wood to the free ends would work...
As always, I appreciate the great input! Beth

Dry wood is a pretty good insulator, so I don't see it preventing overheating of the blanket- rather the opposite. Perhaps if it was soaking wet? Or clamp some wet rags to the blanket with the wood scrap?
I'd use a fan and lots of air if I were concerned with that issue.

Cheers
John

Order bending blankets from McMaster-Carr. They have an unbelievable selection of sizes and applications.

My 6" by 36" blanket. $82.51

http://www.mcmaster.com/#35765k574/=6v56jn

My 2" by 12" blanket for fretboards. $25

http://www.mcmaster.com/#35765k534/=6v577b

They also sell controllers....you name it.

Dave Hurd

Thanks, Dave-
Dumb question (?):
How do you specify the watts/sqin you want? I only see one part# for the non-PSA 6x36 blanket.

Cheers
John

When you click on the part number, over at the left menu it has a drop down to specify wattage.

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Jonathan Kendall, Siloam Springs AR

Thanks, Jonathan.