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I am starting on my second archtop. I have decided on bubinga for the sides and back plate. My first one was maple and I cold bent the sides. They were 0.90" thick and had no problems. I built a fox style bender with a pair of 200 watt bulbs for heat. I can't afford a silicone blanket (yet). I am looking for the best thickness and presoak times (if needed at all) for this material. I don't have the luxury of another set of side pieces and I don't want to break them my first attempt. I have read several threads on bending using additives to make the wood more pliable including: glycerin, ammonia, and someone suggested Formula 409?!? I have already started carving the back plate. This Bubinga is tough stuff and is gonna be a two week carve for sure.

Thanks
Chip

Prayer helps

DO NOT RELY ON LIGHT BULBS or you will break the sides. I learned the hard way and broke two sets of fancy waterfall Bubinga sides. I bought two heat blankets and they bent much easier but you must still use lots of heat and bend them very very slowly. You still may experience some potato chipping or flat spots if there is a lot of figure in the wood.

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

A lot of bubinga has a "bees wing" figure and this causes problems while bending. I picked up some straight grained bubinga that didn't have any bees wing a few years ago and it bent like velveeta on a burger. I thinned it to .08 because I had heard that it was difficult to bend but it was not. I did use a blanket but I'm pretty sure that light bulbs would have worked.
So the answer to your question is that it depends on the particular wood.

A lot of the guys here are into highly figured woods because they make stunning looking guitars. You do pay a price for this in that the figure often causes difficulties in the bending. I personally like a more understated look for my instruments which has the additional advantage of being a lot cheaper.

I just used bubinga on my last guitar. I have used it twice in my lifetime. I use a fox side bender that I made, that is heated it with three 200 watt light bulbs. I thinned the sides to .080. Be sure to have them perfectly smooth on both sides(220 grit), it could make all the differance in the world.

I have had problems with the highly figured bubinga too. Like Tim mentioned I got a number of flat spots using my Fox bender.

I think you might want to leave this a bit thicker with expectations of sanding out the slight humps on the belt sander. If you go too thin from the beginning you may not have enough thickness to work with.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Here is a photo of the stock I am going to resaw into my sides.



My Fox style bender only has two 200W bulbs. The grain is fairly straight without much figure. I too like a subdued design without a lot of fancy appointments. I probably will sand this to 0.75 or 0.80. Should I presoak this for a while first. I did on my maple sides and had some minor ripple.

Thanks
Chip

I am not a bubinga expert but my experience with hi-figured, curly and quilted woods is that you need to bend hotter slower and longer while being careful not to scorch or force the bend. I don't pre-soak anything. I spritz figured woods a bit more than straight grain but I don't soak to avoid extreme grain raising. Darker woods I rap in foil before bending on the fox bender lighter woods that may green up I do not rap in foil.

MichaelP's advice sounds very good to me. I wouldn't advise soaking any wood. Sounds very counter-productive after we spend months even years stickering and drying wood. It will also cause the wood to pucker in areas. As for grain raising do it before you bend the wood. Spritz and let dry then sand. Do this a couple of times prior to bending and grain raising will be kept to a minimum when you bend. Bubinga shouldn't be much of a problem as some of the softer woods are. Spritz lightly wrap in foil or between layers of parchment, bend hot and slow. When you start to get over much 300 degress scorching could occur.

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Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

It seems like this wood likes to kink. I hate going after it with a sander... but will if forced to.

Has anyone found a fool proof way (or at least a consistant way) to get this radical figure to bend smoothly without kinks?

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Looks like Gray has found a way.

_________________
Beautiful and unusual tone woods at a reasonable price.
http://www.rctonewoods.com/RCT_Store
The Zootman
1109 Military Rd.
Kenmore, NY 14217
(716) 874-1498

Darn it, Bob, would you stop tempting us with th'zoot! I've already got a dozen sets coming my way!

Oh well. I guess I'll just have to consider myself lucky that the waterfall stuff sold out before I wised up :-)