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with my new blanket bender and all the good advice around here, i thought i'd get fancy right off the hop and build with a few tricky woods. the sapele worked out fine. neck and tail blocks are glued in, kerfing is in, and rims are sanded.

but i just cracked a wenge side badly (beyond repair) while coaxing it into the outside mold - long split along the grain with a few big splinters that went flying. i bent one day, re-cooked at 280 for a few minutes the next day, and the side still relaxed a lot coming off the bender. i probably should have touched up on a hot pipe.

here's where i need your advice. do i buy another set of wenge sides and try again or do i abandon this splintery stuff and go back to tried and true eir? (so you have my experience in mind as you advise, i bent my first set of eir on the pipe, did the next three eir and one paduak in a light bulb bender - all with decent success, though the paduak felt like i was pushing my luck with the light bulbs.)

what's keeping me even considering another wenge attempt is that the back is already glued up with a strip of koa between the halves and i think the completed instrument could be stunning.

on the other hand, what's making me think of abandoning the wenge is that i can't really afford to be buying and snapping a lot of wood with what people are paying me for my guitars. if other wenge builders have found that they've needed to try three and four times before success, then i'd be inclined to go back to eir (the guy i'm building for was attracted by the dark brown color and the ringing tap tone).

if money were no big deal i'd be inclined to buy a few more sets and not take no for an answer. but that's not the case, so it would be nice to get advice from some of you before i make my next order.

thanks in advance,
phil

I guess you have a couple things going for you.

1) Wenge is pretty uniform in color and grain so it is easy to get more sides and they will match pretty close.

2) Wenge is pretty cheap (as far as tonewoods go)

We have all been where you are, just stay at it. Wenge is a very nice wood (if you can deal with the splinters and the pores) Just get another set and try it.

Out of curiousity though, how thick is the wood? I would probably also crank up the heat a bit. 280 seems a little low, it isn't like you are going to notice much if you scorch it.    Seriously, I would try going about 300 - 305.

These problems/mistakes are called tuition. Just be glad it wasn't a $300 - $400 set of koa. Hang in there.

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

thnaks brock,
no doubt, i'm very happy about the cost of wenge. i'll try to order another side set and give it a try.

about the side thickness, i bend at 2.2mm - i think that's around .087 or so.

about the heat, my second cooking on this side was 280. on the initial bend, though, it kind of got away on me. i didn't have the thermometer probe tucked in well enough and was getting a low reading. when i corrected the placement, it was over 350. no scorching because it was in parchment. but perhaps the extra heat led to increased brittleness. on the next bend i'll make sure to keep a steady 300.

still, the high heat doesn't seem to account for the exaggerated spring back. does wenge spring back more than other species?
thanks,
phil

You might want to drop the thickness to no more than 2.0 mm, about 080".
2.2 mm will be a little tricky to bend.

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"An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is an adventure wrongly considered." G. K. Chesterton.

[QUOTE=phil c-e]still, the high heat doesn't seem to account for the exaggerated spring back. does wenge spring back more than other species?[/QUOTE]

The way to handle this is after it is bent let it fully cool on the mold, then reheat it and let it cool fully a couple more times. That should set the bend pretty well and you will have dramatically less spring back.

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

I found .085 worked fine for me (used to bend it around 90 and it was good too) - yes wenge does spring back alot compared to say EI rw, especially the waist, usually needs a touch up on the pipe to get it to stay tight in the mold I find, but so do most) ... 300 degrees sounds about right as well, I spritz and wrap in foil.

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