Hmmmmmm

[jmuller92]

Hey trusty guitar making maestros ,

i have recently come over a minor dilemma, i have just a term to finish the bulk work of my guitar, and am only up to the early stages of body work. By this stage (not having had a guitar mould at the start) the prebent sides have relaxed a fair bit, to the point id have to force them to fit into the mould. Based on my time restrictions, are there any shortcuts? or am i going to have to rig up a hot pipe to rebend? My teacher insists clamping them in and leaving them will be fine but i have trouble trusting his word based on some bum advice hes given.

Any advice would be appreciated

cheers
jake

[xray]

Jake, for the sake of trying to save time, i dont know the correct answer, however if it were me i would put it in the mould and clamp it after soaking the timber to help the fibres swell. This will take longer now due to the weather. On a hot day in summer it would be ready to go in about 2 days after clamping. I think reheating is an unecessary option that will probably take more time than you have. I would clamp it and move onto another job to work on your guitar. maybe start on the neck and prepare that as it takes a while anyway. Hope this helps. Oh and sorry im not really a maestro but i saw no replies yet. What are your ideas guys?

[sebastiaan56]

My initial thought is that you will need to get at least a hot pipe going. I dont know the timber you are using so its hard to say how brittle it will be. I agree with XRay that clamping is now an imperative.

I normally glue up the sides a few hours after bending but I use a hot pipe so the timer is nice and dry and scorched by the time Im done

David Hurd wisely states in his book "Left Brained Lutherie" that our pursuit is an opportunity to make mistakes. Great for us old blokes but not so good when you need the marks huh......

[Allen]

It really depends on how much they've relaxed. It's pretty rare that they will every stay exactly the same shape as the mold, even over night. They will all spring back a little or a lot, but will usually fit back in the mold with a bit of coaxing, and using some spreaders, and clamps.

You really should be using some spreaders to keep the sides tight in the body mold anyway, so considering the time restraints that you are on, this is what I'd be trying first up. When you get the heel and tail block and linings installed they will still want to spring back some if you take them out of the mold, but will in all likely hood be much less. If you use solid linings like I do, then there would probably be little to no spring back.

[Nick]

I know time is of the essence to you but better to take a little time now and get things right than rush and have a pile of scrap wood at the end. As Allen stated, it very much depends on just how much things have sprung. If the sides can be put back in the mold with some resistance( if you left them clamped up overnight when you originally bent them they should have some memory in them), personally I would just spritz the sides with water and set them back in the mold, clamping up and leaving things to settle for a day or two. If, when you place it back in the mold & it sounds like it's going to split or crack then I would set up the hot pipe & give them another going over and leave them in the mold again for a couple of days. As xray said you can always move onto another part until the sides have had time to 'set'.
When I'm building I pretty much leave the sides in the mold all the time with spreaders in, my molds aren't full depth so it lets me slide the sides in the mold from side to side giving me clamping room to put the linings on. I take them out of the molds only for a short time to clean up any possible glue squeeze out on the tail and the overlap at the neck block.

[jmuller92]

thanks everyone, will give it a go and keep you posted