Official Luthiers Forum!

I've had some good success recently using my CNC machine to profile acoustic guitar sides prior to bending. By this I mean that I've used a few CAD tricks in order to get the precise curve that the bottom edge of an acoustic side makes if you straighten it out. I.e, this means that after gluing the end blocks on I will only have to make minimal corrections via sanding in order to prep the sides for gluing the top and back on.

I bent some mahogany sides the other day and it looks like this is going to work very well. Cool stuff - does anyone else have any experience with this?

I've been trying to think about ways to revamp the building process now that I have the CNC...

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

I'm SO envious.

Taylor does that with their sides too.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

Dang, just when you think you had a new idea!

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

Trev...I have not used CAD to precut sides but I did work on a project several years ago where I used 3D modeling and the "sheet metal" functions to design 3D opjects and then "un-wrap" the models into 2 dimensional full scale drawings. I worked very well. I am sure this could be done for what you are talking about. I will try it in Solidworks and see what happens.

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Brad
Avon, OH

I'm doing that exact thing in rhino using the "unroll developable surface" command.

SW is great for mechanical design, but I'm really really enjoying Rhino for the artsy stuff.

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

Actually I used the sheet metal command in Microstation...it was a really difficult 3D package but it worked. I have been playing with Solid Works and can't figure it out...but I will! By the way..have you checked out the Taylor Factory Friday video's? Check out how they side bend with precut sides...cool stuff.

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Brad
Avon, OH

I remember seeing the side bending machine..but I didn't remember seeing that they had done that.

Those factory friday's are great, Taylor must be a cool company to do release something like that. The guitar industry is certainly different from other industry..

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

I've done templates for a number of my customers in the same manner. I've found that the trick to doing it accurately is to provide the bending molds as well. That way you can control the position of the slot at the waist and use it to index the side in the bender.

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John Watkins
CNC Guitar Parts

I've found that if you start bending at the back of the side and work your way up it works pretty well (I'm using a bending iron at the moment). I am using a mold that I CNC cut as well, so I know that my side surface is as accurate as possible.

Fun stuff..

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http://www.PeakeGuitars.com

I've been wondering about ways to index the sides when the profiles are CNC cut. I was considering using a two-bend system like Taylor does (bend from flat to waisted then use the waist bend to re-index and bend bouts). It's more work, but it seems like it would give more accurate side bends -> less sanding.

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services