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Hey..guys....Getting ready to bend my fist set of flamed curly maple sides....I plan on thicknessing .080....Will this be ok or can I go a little thicker with this wood....From what I have read this wood should be easy to bend....I will be using the side bending machine and the OM form....Thanks Larry

The only two sets I've bent were probably 5A Bigleaf. I bent them both fairly dry with just a spritzing of water just before bending in a Fox-type bender with light bulb heat. They seemed to bend well but the maple tends to want to warp up a little later. If you're using a form for assembly you'll be okay but working on an open workboard was a bit of a hassle for me. They still turned out good.

Good luck. To me there aren't many things pretty than curly maple.

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"We might not be big but we sure are slow"

Curly maple doesn't like too much water as the curls can make the sides ripple or simply disintegrate if you use way too much water. Curly grain is in fact extreme runout, so it is quite easy to break these sides or 'pull up splinters' (bad wording, probably?). I bend mandolin sides on a hot pipe, and the tightest bends I thin the sides to about 1.5 mm, otherwise I try to stay at 2 mm (.8"). This is also fine for guitar sides.

Make sure you get it nice and hot or it snaps!

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin