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I am aware that redwood is well-liked for tops and that it comes with many challenges (soft, splintery, &c).

I know that it has been used (rarely?) for back and sides.

I have a shot at acquiring some insanely beautiful redwood sized for back and sides and am wondering if it is worth it. Does anyone here have direct experience of bending redwood - is it possible? Could you characterize how the instrument sounded? Any other challenges I should be aware of?

Thanks, all...

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I haven't bent Redwood but have bent Red Cedar which has similar properties. The easiest way I found to bend it was to boil it then clamp it to a form and bake it in the oven at around 180 - 200 degrees. This method works beautifully and the cedar comes out with negligible spring back. I built quite a few flamenco guitars with Red Cedar top, back and sides when I was getting started. It makes a good sounding guitar although a bit delicate.

Not Redwood, but made a flamenco with Alaskan Yellow Cedar backs and sides. I made it too light, so that guitar had no sustain at all. Awesome rasgueado, but a melodic failure. If you go with a light weight wood for back and sides, make all the plates a bit thicker so you have more of a guitar and less of a drum.

And be prepared for dents. Just looking at a softwood back seems to leave a dent.

I have been making some small guitars out of spruce and assume other softwoods behave similarly. Get some SuperSoft II and dampen both sides and wrap with craft paper. Bend the next day. I used to get a crease in the waste but don't with the SS. I clamp on a form afte bending and leave it overnight. No spring back, no issues.

I just bent redwood sides for a tenor uke. No issues at all with bending, though I had to heat it twice to fully set the bend. No need to boil it, or treat it any differently than koa, mahogany, etc.I'm making a novelty instrument for our annual show. Redwood T/B/S tenor uke from a seaside house deck that has been covered over by the current lava flow . Old weathered wood with knot holes and black stained 16 penny nail holes. I considered this strictly a for fun show piece. I use mainly curly redwood tops for my guitars and it works fine for that. However, it is way too soft for backs and sides if you want to make a "real" guitar IMHO. This instrument is gonna get dinged up by just touching it. I'll have to use a mat finish, which I never do, to hide the various "issues" that have occurred trying to build an all redwood instrument. Still, if you have the time and just want to build it for fun, an all redwood guitar could be a cool project.

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Thanks all for sharing your experiences. I think I am going to take a pass and stick to what I know best. While the wood got me exited, my first priority is that my instruments have to sound good and play well. At this point I don't want to experiment... That takes time I don't have. Cheers!

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"Building guitars looks hard, but it's actually much harder than it looks." Tom Buck

I hope you post some photos of the completed uke. Should be pretty cool.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Well, it won't be much to look at. I've never made anything quite like it in the 600+ instruments I've made. It's just a fun project. Never made an unbound guitar or uke before and this one is going to be plain Jane. I usually make something relatively decked out for our annual Guild shows, but have always wanted to try something completely in the other direction. If it works out, which I'll know in a couple of weeks because I also don't have to do that gloss lacquer that normally takes me 2 months or more, I'll post a follow up. I've been psychologically stuck for the last few days over the neck. I've just decided that using the same solid redwood is, while possible, really not practical. I do want it to be mostly a recycled uke. So, I think I'll put as wide a redwood stringer in the neck as I can.

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

Hi Bob,
Why not put a hardwood spine down the middle of a redwood neck. That might add enough stiffness. You could even bury it under the fingerboard like some classical builders do. If you have some low quality reject shell you could face the neck with that to create a hard surface for the fretboard. It might go with the theme of a uke made from recycled/rejected materials.

Strength is not the issue.That's easy to deal with. It's more that the redwood is so soft that the slightest ding could cause little splinters on the surface. I'll still use some hardwood for the fretboard.

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

I think the worry about the softness of redwood is overblown. A friend of mine built an all redwood classical in 1981, and it still looks fine. It has a few dings, but what 37 year old guitar that is played doesn't?

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John