Uncle Os Posted October 30, 2011 Report Posted October 30, 2011 Hey there Groovy Guys and Groovy Gals... I do a lot of bending of my tops... Drop Top, Bent Top... Whatever they're being called these days... Differing techniques depending upon the species, grain, thickness, etc. I've got some beautifully spalted AND flamed maple one piece tops (stunning pieces of wood if you ask me) that are just hair over 1/4" in thickness. The problem is... You know... Spalted stuff has that 'rot' that goes through the grain and, well... When ya try to bend or shape it... Well... It just crumbles. The tops of most of the guitars I make are heavily sculpted. I could do the Tyler thing and just 'carve away' with the top already applied exposing the core wood, but I'd kinda like to figure out a way to get this stuff to go around a curve. Thus far, the only idea I've come up with that I think would work is to thickness it down to < 1/8" and apply it to some sort of plastic substrate and work it as though it were a veneer. I don't really like that idea much, however. Just because it goes against my thoughts of having nice thick tops. Any-a y'all got any ideas? Respectfully, Unc Quote
westhemann Posted October 30, 2011 Report Posted October 30, 2011 I would think it would work if you would stabilize it by soaking in thin CA and let it thoroughly dry first... Quote
Tim37 Posted October 30, 2011 Report Posted October 30, 2011 Epoxy might be more flexible wes. You could cut reliefs on the back that might work but then you have to bind it. Quote
westhemann Posted October 30, 2011 Report Posted October 30, 2011 Epoxy might be more flexible wes. Actually it is not,but the bigger problem with epoxy is it sits on top of the wood instead of soaking in like thin CA will,so it does nothing to keep the wood from splitting. Quote
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