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I want to put a quilt maple laminate top on a strat-style body, but I want to have that forearm contour on it too.

Any ideas how this is done? Do you bend the wood like that or do you get an extra thick piece of quilt maple and just sand the heck out of it?

Bend. Heat will do, and if it's a little thick, scoring/cutting relief slots in the wood at the bend will help.

I'm fairly certain there are discussions on this topic in the MIMF.com library and the projectguitar.com website and/or forums.

oh. hehe sorry, I forgot to check.

I don't know though, would relief cuts be such a great idea on a piece of wood 1/8" thick?

I did one in quilt a couple years back .. 1/8 inch bent no problen .. the tougher part is making sure it glues down tight, a custom caul is best, and lots of clamps.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Another approach to gluing the drop top is to vacuum bag it to the body. Lots of good ideas for vacuum stuff of Joe Woodworker site ( http://joewoodworker.com/}

If you know someone with a large foodsaver it will work for a vacuum clamp as well otherwise the smaller ones bag size is not wide enough, plenty long though for fretboards to necks and headstock veneers though. I use my brother in laws all the time for veneer work on smalll projects.
mk

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I'm outside looking in, just farther from the window than most.

1/8" should bend with some water and a household iron. Vacuum bagging can help, but really isn't necessary for a good fit. You will want a suitable caul (MDF, ply) though.

Most drop tops are 1/4" thick, for whatever reason, and need a little more convincing.

wouldn't an iron burn the wood?


in case you can't tell I'm a noob. This is my first try at this stuff.

Drop Top is a name Tom Anderson gave a bent top.
His are thicker because they are kerfed and thus can be easier to bend.
No prob with a vac bag. I have done many at .100" bent to the stock contours for a strat style.If your wood is stiff like Koa try a little steam bending but beware of delaminating your center joint.Another thing to remember is NO compound curves!You will end up with thick ugly glue lines.
Good luck

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How long is that in luthyears?