hummingbird #2 Padauk Sapwood - Bear Claw Dred

[hummingbird]

TJ No rationale. I like the smell and look of cedar. I use select tounge and grove cedar planks that have tight grain and are perfectly quarter sawn. One 36x5x3/4 plank gives me enough for one guitar including side braces and center seem reinforcement. can't find decent spruce 30" long locally. Cedar is kind of soft especially the dark stuff for some reason so it may not be the ideal choice but it's all I have to work with right now. I can get Spanish cedar which might be better. Anybody else have any suggestions?

[Spiritbearguitars]

Hi Al, great work! I really liked the alternating colors on the end cap.
Spirit Bear

[BEJ]

Sweet build, really like how you went the extra mile to make the sapwood combo work. Sometimes a piece of wood grabs you and forces you to do something with it. Most of the time with sapwood I just try to find a way to get rid if it, guess we wouldn't have this nice guitar to look at if you thought like that.

Nice use of cedar, might be a good use for some of the cedar strips that as seem to be too small for anything, jeeze another rethought.

Bruce,

[hummingbird]

Back seam reinforcement. There are 3 seams to reinforce. I used western red cedar. Lighter pieces for the outer two and darker for the middle to help blend in with the background colour. Its time to build a GoBar deck viewtopic.php?f=4&t=5095

[hummingbird]

Back braces. Made from western red cedar.

[hummingbird]

I came up with an idea for a rosette for the bearclaw top which I think will look good on this guitar.

I cut a bunch of pieces of padauk sapwood and arranged them so the grain lines point outward like the spokes of a wheel.

[hummingbird]

I glued them together with LMI glue one piece at a time.

Originally there were 12 pieces but after tweeking the angles on my belt sander for the perfect fit I had to add a spare to make up for the missing material. I had just the right amount of this wood left over from the sides so I was lucky to have a spare piece. All the pieces were different sizes and thicknesses so I had to glue it face down.

[hummingbird]

I glued it to a paper backing with 3M 77 spray adhesive then to a board and cut out the ring with my circle cutter.

[hummingbird]

I carefully pryed the ring off with a putty knife. Looking good so far. I will surround the ring with small herringbone purfling.

[hummingbird]

I've never tried bending herringbone. I've heard conflicting ideas about how to and how not to do it. So I tried a couple of methods.

I started with the easier outside ring. I used a heat gun on the low setting and heated 1 or 2 inches at a time and tacked it in place as I went.

This worked but it was precarious because the herringbone wanted to come apart and also tended to twist. I also had to heat well ahead of the bend on occasion so the herringbone pieces could slide apart to make the curve.

I dont think this is a good way to bend herringbone. Read on...