Guitar #2. 00-12 Fret with Engelmann/Cherry

[johnnparchem]

Looks like you have the making for a great guitar. The fret board inlay will look great. Quite a bit of inlay work to do.

[MaineGeezer]

Where did you get the cherry?

[Diane Kauffmds]

Where did you get the cherry?

I picked it up on Ebay from the seller, zootman2 (aka RCtonewoods).

[Diane Kauffmds]

I have everything together now. I just took delivery on the cherry neck, heel block, and end block. I also received my tuners and truss rod.

So the materials are pretty much assembled and ready to go. It'll be a while before I start though.

[CavalierKingCharles]

Looks great Diane, I can't wait to see the finished Guitar.

[nkwak]

I am loving that inlay. As for the site, don't worry that much about it. Do you live close enough to that lose here in Ohio that you spoke of that you could take a day trip? Even if he won't let you bend the sides like my friend did with me, I really recommend being there to witness the process. It's amazing how quickly it all happens. I don't know how she reacts but with mahogany and rosewood it was very quick. Personally, the hardest part for me was setting it all up so that I didn't bend THREE left sides - yup, I had to do it over so my #1 is actually #1.5. They sirens kidding when they say measure twice before you cut, or in this case bend.

Other than that the process is pretty simple. It actually didn't take too much water. I just placed each slat in some brown shipping paper and spritzed it lightly with some distilled water in a spray bottle. The heating blanket was placed directly on top, then everything was sandwiched between two stainless steel slats and clips with little metal clips on the ends so nothing would slide around. We inserted a digital thermometer under the top steel slat, torqued the middle clamp on the tower in position, attached the springs and side clamps on to either side of the tower and turned on the heat.

Within three minutes the thermometer read 300 and for both woods steam started to wisp from underneath the steel slat. It was time to act, and act quickly.

The tower clamp goes down first. As long as you're smooth with adding pressure there should be no problems. % Then you slide the side clamps around the curve of the bouts, keeping the springs under tension until you reach the ends. It's surprising how little resistance there is from the wood.

after that you're pretty much cooking the wood. I can't recall if we kept the mahogany under heat longer than the Rosewood, but for the next few minutes you're pretty much trying to manage the heat and keeping it around 300 degrees

[MaineGeezer]

Yes, I was surprised how easy it was to bend the sides. Carter looked up the bend temperature for black walnut, sprayed a side, put the "sandwich" together, cranked down on the waist clamp a bit to hold everything in place, turned on the heat, cranked down the waist some more, then just pulled the ends down and let it cook at the specified temperature for 7 minutes or whatever the time was for black walnut. Let the side cool, take it off the bending fixture, put it in the mold, do the other as a mirror image. As you say, not much water.

[Diane Kauffmds]

The luthier that made my neck is quite a drive from here. I have the capability of building a bending pipe and doing it by hand. I'll have to look at my options. Thanks for the input.

[johnnparchem]

I am looking forward to see the guitar. What kind of wood is the very figured squares? Is it cherry as well?

[Diane Kauffmds]

I am looking forward to see the guitar. What kind of wood is the very figured squares? Is it cherry as well?

Sorry John; I was off the grid for a little while after surgery. The squares are pommele mahogany and dark Puerto Rican Mango. I have pommele mahogany for the binding.