Official Luthiers Forum!

I recently purchased some top plates and one set that arrived Sat. is warped. Has anyone been in this situation, and, what was done about it? Does it really matter if the top is warped? Will the action of applying braces remove the warp? I was thinking about stickering them and setting some weight on them but don't want to waste the time if I'm not likely get it flattened.
thanks,
chris

_________________
Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...

What kind of "warp" ??

Lengthwise ?
Crosswise ?
Twisted ?
Cupped ?

Mark

duh.. sorry. It is my favorite type... 'twist'.

_________________
Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...

I had some warp, and I had to use water and an iron, heat them up, and put them between plywood with weights. I did this for both back and tops. My one top still has a bit of curve (slight) in it after bracing/dish.

Heat, water, and weight/over night between newspaper. That was my solution.

Do not apply heat if there is any wax on the wood at all. Depending upon the wax variety, heat as low as 125F will liquify it. If the wood is heated above the melting point of the wax, the wax will flow into the wood as easily as water, oil, or any other liquid, and the wax then cannot be removed in any practical manner.

Chris,
How twisted are these pieces? If they can be coaxed flat by gentle pressure you should be fine after thicknessing and bracing. If they are rigid and threaten to crack under pressure, it is probably not worth the effort to deal with. Most dealers will accept a return if you are not happy with what was sent to you.

_________________
It's not the miles ahead, it's the stone in your shoe


In Markham,Virginia

Would Supersoft work for this problem?

_________________
Aoibeann

Chris,
Most wood is quite seasoned when it comes into luthier channels. It doesn't take near the time to get spruce ready for guitarmaking as say just about any hardwood.

It's common for wood which hasn't acclimated to a change in scenery to cup on top of the stack while pieces lower in the stack will be nice and flat. If it's all that way that's a major curiosity.

When processed by most cutters, it's then stickered for drying, and some folk put weight on top to aid in keeping all straight. It's not uncommon when unstacking for a few pieces to naturally want to potato chip or curl. This is usually before being thickness sanded.

Once stickered, dryed, and sanded, most top woods are pretty stable. Is this simply bandsawed wood or is it sanded wood? You should be able to see bandsaw marks if it's not been thickness sanded.

I've ordered in tops before and left it in a stack on my workbench and was curious why, the next day, that the top board was going bananas. It's only natural, hey, it's wood. Let's say I laid out ten sets all around the shop, well, I'd think I had bad wood the next day when I walked in, the top dries out, the bottom hasn't, hence major cupping can occur in all twenty pieces.

What do I do now? Easy, I stand my tops all around the shop on the floor for one to two days, move it around if I have to to work. I let air circulate around both sides, works like a charm. My boards all stay straight. So, care in your shop with thin tops is essential. There may be nothing wrong with your wood at all.

Good luck finding the source of your consternation. And good luck building, bd

_________________
http://www.dickeyguitars.com

Thanks to all for your responses.
Bruce the wood has been sanded but is still just over 1/8" thick. I think for now I will sticker it and wait.
thanks,
chris

_________________
Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...

Chris,

I just dropped off a few sets at Michael Greenfield's shop toady, we put them on the bench and sat and chatted for a few hours. We went back into the shop and the top piece had cupped. These sets were in a plane on Saturday and before that had been in my heated shop since 2004. The stack was placed under a bench light that was turned on. Mike had the same question. My answer was the same as Bruce's, turn the piece over and by morning it will be flat, no weight, no stickers, no nothing! That is for a cupped top. If the top twists that is another story, I would actually be very leary of using it. It will have stresses inside the top that you really don't want. You can work with some twist in a back, but I would not use it for a top. If they don't flatten out without force, I think you will be running risk of top integrity.

Good luck with it.

Shane

_________________
Canada

As usual... the seasoned lumber, err, I mean luthiers here have nailed it. The plates settled down flat by last night.

_________________
Chris Oliver
Infinity Luthiers
...in the shop.

live every minute...