Official Luthiers Forum!

I`m building a cutaway parlor guitar for my nephew and he wants to use herringbone purfling .It`s 1/8 thick on the face that shows.That`s about twice as thick as regular commercial purfling.it`s supposed to go around the top of the guitar inside of some curly maple binding.This seems like it`s going to be almost impossible to bend around the horn.Any ideas or has anyone done this?
                    James w B

_________________
James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Bump for James, I've never done this so thought I would at least bump it up for you.

_________________
My Facebook Guitar Page

"There's really no wrong way, as long as the results are what's desired." Charles Fox

"We have to constantly remind ourselves what we're doing....No Luthier is putting a man on the moon!" Harry Fleishman

"Generosity is always different in the eye of the person who didn't receive anything, but who wanted some." Waddy Thomson

James,

I've never done this so take these as ideas until someone who has chips in, but the two things tha would occur to me would be first to try bending the purfling to shape in a Fox-bender as per the binding - even better taped to the binding to give better support. It will probably need support on the inside and outside of the purfling to stop kinking.

Second try would be to try wetting the purfling in warm water and then carefulyy bending around a form by hand, taping the purfling on to keep the shape - maybe you could use the guitar as the form. Obviously not getting the purfling so wett that it delaminates.

I assume this is not a "poke you in the eye" cutaway as mitreing the purfling would be the option there.

_________________
Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

This is a venetian so I won`t get poked in the eye.LMI says you can bend this by hand.I`m a little hesitant ,it seems Im gonna need heat or something.Taping to the binding might help.According to Lmi they say don`t use water.Hmm getting more difficult all the time.That would have been my first inclination since it`s made of wood.
                                   James

_________________
James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

James, I use this stuff quite a bit but can't recall if I've done a cutaway or not. Anyway when I install it, I put it in dry. Just cut the channels and start at the butt or course matching the two sides. Just work your way around tucking it inside the binding as you go and using the binding for support. Let the straight piece of herringbone ride above your bent binding and just push it behind and down into the channel behind the binding and tape it tightly.

I used to split the herringbone in half to install it until I was set straight and taught the correct way by Mario (Big Grin) and have been doing it this way ever since. You may find that splitting it in the cutaway area helps.

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Here's my thought:
Take two pieces of binding and sanwich the purf between them. Tape it very tightly in a spiral like a barber shop pole. Throw it in the bender and see what happens. Even if you bend it by hand, I would think this would give you the best support for your bend.

It can be done, all that is required is to support it tightly in the channel with your binding and tape it tightly. As I said I would start at the butt and then when you get to the cutaway just split it along the center blonde line with a razor blade (usually this is very easy) and then continue the same as before.

_________________
Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

Man this brought out the big guns,And I really appreciate it.Sounds to me like you`ve done this before John .I also like Your advise Todd And Paul.I`ll have to think on it a bit.Hesh keep standin`. HaHa
                        James

_________________
James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

James, I've done one cutaway guitar with H'bone.
And I don't have a Fox bender.
So, I did bend it by hand, and yes it is possible.
I think what LMI means by "bends by hand" is that the new h'bone pieces are far more flexible than they used to be. And, they will bend sideways, AND you don't have to have a fancy machine to do it.
What I did do, was to make a template (from a 1 x 12) of the shape of the cutaway side, rout the binding/purfling channel into it, then bent the h'bone. As it bent, I taped it onto the template to keep its shape.
Now, I do have, and did use, those extra (aluminum) pieces that clamp onto the bending iron which offer lateral support to wide stuff.

I know what you mean, herringbone ain't cheap, and the thought of breaking 4 or 5 pieces gives pause, but it's not hard to bend this new stuff.

Good luck,

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I bent mine somewhat the way Steve bent his, on a separate bending form with the proper ledge routed into it. The ledge supports the inside of the bend well enough and when that morphs into an outside bend then the ledge gives something to push against. I started with the Hbone straight and used a heat gun to make it more pliable as I went along. Plenty of tape to hold any progress that you make.

Thanks Steve and John.So it sounds like you did use your bending iron but no water? I have those aluminum pieces ,I `m not even sure how you use them.
                        James

_________________
James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

I've been avoiding herringbone because the old stuff was so hard to deal with. I used to split the strip down the middle, scrape off the white centre strip & insert a BWB.
Worked OK, but it was fiddly & sometimes I just ended up with a small pile of tiny parallelograms of holly & ebony.
It's good to hear that the new stuff is easier to bend... Thanks for this thread guys, I'm definitely gonna include some herringbone in my next order!

Bro--good idea!

James--actually, I did use some water, but just a light spritzing. While your bending iron is cool, put one of the aluminum clamps on. Lay the h'bone up against it, then slide the other band up to the purfling and clamp it down. Not too tight, as you don't need the extra drag, but too loose, and you will lose the support.

Daniel--yes, the old way was tough, wasn't it?
You'll like the new material.

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com