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There are several sources for Herringbone purfling including Martin, LMI, StewMac, Gurian, etc. Are all these about the same quaility or are there qualities you like better from one supplier for one reason or other? I noticed the StewMac Herringbone is black fiber and natural wood (maple maybe?). Does a mix of materials like this work ok? Any reason to look at Herringbone at one supplier over another or should I just order from whomever I happen to be placing an order with to save on shipping?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Some has a finer pattern than the others. I've found it to be easy to use from either stumac or lmi, haven't tried the other sources.

I've used both the LMI and StewMac products with good results - I usually go with the cheapest...

-Mark

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Pullman, WA

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Anyone know if Martin uses different patterns (finer or more course) on different body sizes?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

This is for a 14 fret 00 body. I'm not completely sold on HB purfling on the top but so far, I haven't found an alternative that appeals to me.

Todd, you bring up a good point and that is how I will bend the HB. I have a Fox style bender but currently don't have a bending pipe. Is there a way to bend the HB on a Fox style bender? It's a little odd in thatyour bending the piece sideways (across the wider dimension) where binding is bent over the narrower portion (the depth). What's a good approach for this?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Darryl,

Terry Kennedy has a great way of bending it in the archives - I remember seeing it some years back and it's the way I do mine now. I tried to get a link to the post but for some reason, couldn't get it to work, if you do a search for "Bending Herringbone" and terken, you can see it - dead on simple, and works like a champ!

-Mark

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I put it in hot water for just a few minutes. Seems to me that's in one company's instructions.

FYI: Gurian makes all the herringbone referred to -- Martin, LMI, Stew-Mac. He even bends it for Martin. If you use a lot, get it from the source.

So all these sources sell the exact same pattern?

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

I'm not saying that you can get one piece of purfling from Stew-Mac and one piece from LMI and have them match exactly. In fact, you can get two slightly mis-matched pieces from even a single supplier. Have the materials in hand, inspect them, measure them, and only then rout and install them.

Gurian makes purfling to order so the different companies can order whatever they like, specifying materials/widths/pattern. Some companies have proprietary patterns that aren't offered to others. Other patterns, such as the "bold" and "fine" herringbone, are pretty much public at this point (they've been around since before 1900). It's interesting to look at the European-made purflings available in the late nineteenth century -- there are some very familiar patterns as well as some very unusual ones (see picture on p72 of Washburn & Johnston's "Martin Guitars").

I searched and could not find it. Has anyone else found it who can post a link? Wendy

You don't even need to use hot water. I just dampened mine, let it rest a few minutes, and then slowly bent it over my side template, using masking tape to hold it in position while it dried. Once dry, it held the shape well enough to easily press to final shape on the guitar with minimal coercion.

It might be easier to pre-bend the waist, first, then flip it over, tape in in place, then continue bending the bouts. That way you are always bending against the solid of the template.

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Expectation is the source of all misery; comparison the thief of joy.
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I'll offer that I have bought and used the pre-bent h-bone purfling from Martin. it was for a 000. if it's all made by the same guy, it still looks different to me on website pictures. in pics it looks black, in life it don't. I love what I got, and it was easy to use. bending it to use for a 00 will be a snap*. (LOL).




* nice thing about herringbone purfling is that if it breaks (and it probably will) you can easily glue it back together and the join will be invisible.

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"...you have to get over your strict adherence to your largely imagined notion of absolute perfection..."

Well for some reason, I can find the picture of Terry's method, but when I jump to the link, it is not in the thread. But here is a photo. Basically I use my template for my bending form, which is slightly smaller than the mold template. Spritz with a bit of water, and work around the template, heating with a heat gun as you go.

I let it cool, then hit it with heat again. I started doing it this way because the herringbone has a tendency to want to twist, and this method mitigates that.



-Mark

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I have gurian make mine to 1937 spec and to Martin modern speck. I don't use the ultra fine like on the 000-EC. It bends well enough but you need a carrier to help keep the purfling from rolling . Many ways to do it .
I will have some of this at ASIA .

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

I had trouble with the HB rolling when I tried it in my bender, so I used the hot water/bathtub method. Worked well, bent it easily into my 000 mold and let it dry overnight. When dry, it held it's shape very well.

Chris.

Wow, Gurian is the only supplier for all these people? That's not good. Anybody know how to make your own?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Lots of people know how to make their own -- but once you've done it, you'll be happy Gurian's around and doing such a good job.

How long is he going to be around for?

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Old growth, shmold growth!

Many years . I have been in business 11 yrs and we was around a while then already. he knows what he is doing.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

He had a shop in New England that burned down in the early 80's as I recall. Built pretty nice guitars. He makes marquetry for all kinds of woodworking business now, not just guitars. The biggest problem is that you have to buy a whole layup, and that's lots of pieces.

Making your own is not that hard. Check the tut section, and I think you'll find one on making wheat that I did a few years ago. If you can't find it there check my photobucket album, link below - in the "Guitar Related Projects" album, "Making Wheat". Wheat is the same, but with a center strip.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

It is absolutely not hard to make your own and well worth it. Once you get the hang of it it takes a few afternoons of work of which quite a bit is glue drying time.

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Burton
http://www.legeytinstruments.com
Brookline, MA.

I've seen a tut on making wheat, but not herringbone. Anyone know of one?

You could always take the elevator to the Dry Goods Floor for some "Pure Herringbone"

The only difference is that herringbone has more frequent layers of white and no center strip. When you lay it up, you use something like 3-4 layers of black then a couple of layers of white(depending on how thick you want your little arrows) - repeat until you have a stack tall enough to give you a full length piece when cut up on the bias and stacked and glued on the bias(the angle of the cut will determine how steep your arrows are). Cut the log into strips, cutting the angled face, cut the strips into strips, flip every other one and glue in pairs.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars