www.KitGuitarsForum.com

I'm trying to do a sanity check of the design elements I've chosen for the guitar I'm building, to be sure it's practical to build.

Eric, for whom I'm building the guitar, wants it to be a cutaway. Question: is it realistic to bend herringbone purfling to as tight a curve as would be required for a Venetian cutaway? I've sketched a few possible designs, and it looks as though a Ventian cutaway will likely require a curve as tight as 1-1/2" radius, possibly even tighter. It seems to be asking a lot of a piece of purfling 1/8" wide to bend that tightly...but maybe there is a way to do it?
Or should I opt for a Florentine cutaway, which would require a less drastic bend?

I think I've figured out the curly maple binding. I sanded it down to 0.065" and had no trouble bending it to a 3-1/2" diameter circle. I think it could go tighter. I'd prefer a slightly thicker binding...but I guess I can live with 0.065".

if the curve is too tight to bend herringbone without it separating I will split the herringbone or take 2 pieces and sand them down and they will bend in easily that way.
I have bent Bone pretty tight but it can be tricky.

I found that the herringbone purfling from StewMac bent very easily with a bit of heat. I laid it on a hot metal plate and it became quite flexible. I also used a heat gun to warm it up. It behaves as though it's put together with some sort of rubberized glue or something.