Official Luthiers Forum!

I`d like to bend the bindings for a cutaway on a bending form using a blanket instead of a pipe.I was thinking of doing the super soft deal as Michael has been doing and leaving the bindings at .080 thick.What do you think? It would be great to hear how some of you folks bend your bindings for a cutaway.I know it`s probably been gone over before ,but maybe super soft can change the way it can be done.
                            James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

I bend all my bindings on my Fox style bender. I always have. Truth is unless you are using a binding that is really brittle you should not need the SuperSoftII.

with painters tape tape the ends of the bindings together lightly spirits with distilled water and wrap in foil or Kraft paper. If you use Kraft paper spirits the paper as well and bend just as you would a side. no difference. With the bindings being s smaller cross section it take less time to get to temp and they actually bend easier. Cook for 5-7 min past the the time to bend. Leave in the press over night to cool and set to shape and you are good to go.

Thanks for the info.I`m going to be bending Acacia which I`ve never used and know nothing about.
                            James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Witch Acacia? Black Acacia, Koa, Mesquite Asian Acacia, There are so many most are relatively strong and stable therfore pretty easy to bend. Curl can make them more prone to problems due to rapid grain orientation changes.

I`m not sure which one, It`s coming from Lmi.The catalogue says light flame Koa like color.
                        James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Black Acacia then. Most likely curly. You may want to use SSII for the cutaway then. It will not hurt to use it anyway, but I think you will be surprised how much easier bindings bend than sides. and it is all due to the mass heats quicker because there is less of it.

Thanks Michael.Not just for this post ,but for all your posts.You are truly helpful and appreciated.I`ll use the SS2.         &n bsp;James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee