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I am having trouble bending purfling. It's a black and white diagonal type purfling. Kind of like herringbone. I tried bending it dry and it just snaps. I also tried soaking it in hot water for a couple of minutes with the temp at 140 and then bending it right on the guitar. This is what is recommended by the seller (Euphonon Co.) but this did not work either. I don't think I could bend this in my bender with bindings strips along the edge could I? Wouldn't that much heat make the purfling fall apart. Any info would be greatly appreciated.

I use a Monocote iron (from radio controlled airplane shop) to bend herringbone right on the side of the guitar as I glue it. I don't know if it's luck or skill, but they bend right into the rabbet. I set the temperature fairly high @90% and sort of roll it in place.

Al

I have successfully bent herringbone purfling by bending a little at a time slowly.

Meaning, start at an end, glue and tape a few inches.

Then bend the next section by bending a little, hold, bend a little more, hold. Do this until you have bent the purfling to it final resting point. You hold to let the purfling acclimate.

Are you bending too quickly?? If you are, it will snap on you. The only time I break purfling is when I rush and bend too much or quickly.

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Guitars...One's too many...Twenty is not enough.

Sometimes I prebend the purflings, but if they're not too wide I just push them into place while gluing the binding. I just wet them as I go. Otherwise I suggest a fox bender. They should bend fast and easily, and they shouldn't come apart.

If you're making them yourself, use Titebond II and bend them in a fox bender. They bend as easily as anything. No water. Here's some I did like that:
jfrench38799.8085763889

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Doug, I'm going to try bending them the way you say tomorrow. I don't know if it will work though. These things want to snap like crazy. Do you have any tips for the waist area.

Joshua, You don't use water when you bend them in the fox bender? Do you know about what temp your bending at? By the way those purflings look great on that guitar!

Just so we don't get confused about anything, I'm trying to bend top purfling and not side purfling.

Colby,

I use 3 200 watt bulbs in my side bender. No idea what temp. But the purflings bend so easily I don't even bother to heat it up for as long as I do bindings. For the picture above I just taped together 4 strips of some herringbone I made (2 for top, 2 for back) and threw it in the bender. It took about 1/20th of the time it takes to bend the binding and side purflings. Its pretty wide purfling, but it practically bends itself, and holds a bend extremely well to.

I didn't use any water.

Got an extra purfling strip, or some extra length on one? Throw it in the fox bender and try to bend the waist area. I am willing ti bet it goes much easier then you'd have thought!

Best of luck, and please let us know how it turns out and how you end up tackling this.

Best wishes,
Joshuajfrench38799.9333564815

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Colby

I have done them in a Fox bender too, Like Joshua I bend them dry, I use a blanket and my therometer, I start the bend gently at about 150 F, you will feel if it is ready to go, as soon as all the bending cauls are in place I kill the heat let it sit until it cools yo room temperature, I remove them. They crush easily so don't be too agresive with the waist caul.

My first Herringbone purflings came from Martin pre-bent. Then it was my turn. I heated up a water bath and dropped in the purfling.

Using a 3/4 inch piece of plywood as a backer, I traced an outline of the guitar side onto the backer. Then using masking tape, I taped the purfling in place to the traced line.

When you pull the herringbone out of the hot water, say close to five minutes, it reminds me of spaghetti. It easily conformed to the side bends and dried overnight with a fan on it. There was absolutely no springback and it did not fight me either.

Install was a breeze. This is for the top purfling only, which is probably a bit harder to do than side purfling laying flat. It's fun to find a way that works. This worked for me, and I liked using dry purfling in application, but it might actually work straight onto the guitar.

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I forget who had given me this great tip, (Maybe Hesh?) but if you have a pipe, heat it up, and put a rag on top of it. When you have good heat, just spray some water on the rag. The humidity released should make those puppies bend like spagetti, but be careful not to stay too long on the same spot. Work it back and forth to negate any releasing of the glue in the purfling. When instlalling them in the channel, you can heat them up a bit with a clothes iron. This helps as well, especially if you're using HHG. I've done some 'rope' purfling from LMI this way and it worked really well. Hope this helps.

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

[QUOTE=jfrench] Sometimes I prebend the purflings, but if they're not too wide I just push them into place while gluing the binding. I just wet them as I go. Otherwise I suggest a fox bender. They should bend fast and easily, and they shouldn't come apart.

If you're making them yourself, use Titebond II and bend them in a fox bender. They bend as easily as anything. No water. Here's some I did like that:
[/QUOTE]

Joshua if that one is finished, just box it up and send it to me please! Tornavoz!

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

For the waist, it is the same. Bend a little then hold, etc. You may or may not be able to use this technique. It depends on your purfling.

I bent the LMI herringbone this way with no problem. I did snap one of the laminates while gluing, I shouted some obscenities, and just glued it in place......you can't tell.

Again, you may or may not be able to get away with bending them this way. If you can, it is nice and easy.

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Guitars...One's too many...Twenty is not enough.

Thanks for all the help guys. I did finally get my purfling bent. I could not bend them dry though. They just wouldn't take the bend without snapping. I bent them in my side bending machine using my heating blanket. The purflings are 1/8" wide and very thin, so there was no way I could put them in the machine without them falling over. If I had several of them and taped them together that would probably work but I didn't have extras. So, I sandwiched them together between to scrap strips of wood. The scrap wood was Bubinga, and I was afraid with no moisture it would have cracked and messed up the purfling. After taping the purfling and wood together I moistened the wood with water on a wash cloth and wrapped it all in foil. I then said my prayers and stuck it in the bender. Thankfully it all went smooth.Using the water made me nervous because I was afraid the purfling would delaminate. Do you guys think I could have left the wood dry and bent it??

What's going on inside that guitar, Joshua?

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

Howard, it's a Tornavoz.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.