I'm building this guitar with a sitka spruce top, and mahogany back and sides. I'm not going to lie, the part that scared me most of building a guitar from scratch was bending the sides. I started by using a handplane, scraper, and random orbital sander to get the sides to the proper thickness, after which I cut the sides to the correct profile. At this point I started getting worried, because this set of mahogany seems to be a bit brittle - I ended up getting a rather long crack in one of the sides which I had to repair with CA glue.
Next was the bending process. I the idea of heating and bending sides on a hot pipe intimidated me. I didn't think I would be able to do it. I'd love to buy a heating blanket but can't really afford it right now, so I built my own lightbulb bender.
The base of the fixture has three 200 watt lightbulbs for a heat source. The half body mold is made to be slightly smaller then the profile of the guitar to accomodate the thickness of the sides. The mold is covered with aluminum flashing inside and on the bending surface. In about 10 to 15 minutes after turning on the power, the mold reaches temperatures between 250 and 300 degrees! These lightbulb benders can be hazardous if left unattended, so my plan will be to get a heating blanket with a timer in the future as soon as I can afford it, but at least this will get the job done cheap a
I wiped the piece of wood down with water and wrapped it in kraft paper, and proceeded to SLOWLY bend the wood. After the side cooled down, I bent the second side. Overall, my first attempt at building went well, except for one spot where the wood seperated a bit on the lower bout, but since I plan to paint this guitar black it should fix up well. My sides fit my body mold quite well!
The base of the fixture has three 200 watt lightbulbs for a heat source. The half body mold is made to be slightly smaller then the profile of the guitar to accomodate the thickness of the sides. The mold is covered with aluminum flashing inside and on the bending surface. In about 10 to 15 minutes after turning on the power, the mold reaches temperatures between 250 and 300 degrees! These lightbulb benders can be hazardous if left unattended, so my plan will be to get a heating blanket with a timer in the future as soon as I can afford it, but at least this will get the job done cheap a
I wiped the piece of wood down with water and wrapped it in kraft paper, and proceeded to SLOWLY bend the wood. After the side cooled down, I bent the second side. Overall, my first attempt at building went well, except for one spot where the wood seperated a bit on the lower bout, but since I plan to paint this guitar black it should fix up well. My sides fit my body mold quite well!