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I am building a curly bubinga guitar now. Some observations: It is probably the most difficult wood I have ever tried to hand plane; the first one I made a couple of years ago when I did not have a drum sander gave me nightmares! It was also difficult to bend on a hot pipe without the curls causing cupping and unevenness. This time I drum sanded the sides to 2 mm, misted the sides with water, wrapped them in aluminium foil and bent them in a Fox style bender. They came out with minimal unevenness. The figure on my sets are more like Steve K's, I got mine from Larry Davis about 3 years ago.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Dennis, WOW, I'll ha ve to check out your work more closely from now on, that guitar design is just wonderful!

Bubinga is really a must try on my list for me now!

Thanks everyone. I'm guessing the bubinga board(s) will come home with me if they are still there this weekend.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu

[QUOTE=DennisLeahy] [QUOTE=Dave Rector] [QUOTE=Mike Mahar] The bee's wing and other highly figured bubingas have a reputation for being difficult to bend.[/QUOTE]

Uh oh, I have a set of the beeswing from the Zootman (I think I won it in the OLF auction). Any suggestions on how best to go about bending it. More heat, thinner sides, more moisture, less moisture?[/QUOTE]
Dave, my knowledge of bending guitar sides is truly vast, and yet thinking back over the years and all of the sides that I have bent, I calculate that exactly half of all the sides I have bent were figured Bubinga. Er, well, I... OK, OK, now the truth: I have bent 2 sets of sides; one set was the figured Bubinga shown in this thread. I used a silicone heating blanket on a solid form, wrapped the Bubinga in wet paper, blue spring steel above and below, very little water, and about 315°F bending temp. When I was done, I thought I had faceting, but it was an optical illusion created by the curls. It came out smooth.

The cutaway portion of the bending form I made was not well thought out, and I had LOT of trouble keeping my cutaway caul in place. That fidgeting caused me to keep the sides in the bender at 315° at least twice as long as I had planned, and I scorched the sides in a couple of spots. It all sanded off. I mention that because I think that's another positive attribute of Bubinga. If it had been Maple or many other species, I think it would have been toast.

Dennis[/QUOTE]

Thanks Dennis, that's exactly the kind of information I was looking for!

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Kirby, a principle of wood acquisition, buy first, ask questions later. I've missed a lot of nice wood otherwise. Of course you should educate yourself along the way. Nice guitar by the way, really nice.

An example: I left my hardwood store with nothing. It was a bummer to not find anything I was looking for. I ran across a piece of super curly maple, but it wasn't until I got home I thought of bindings, man. I drove all the way back to get it, 80 miles one way. It was gone and no more to be had.

BobCef put up three sets of wood that I nabbed, two were waterfall bubinga sets with sapwood. And I don't like sapwood, but it was irresistable. Then he puts up a set of Imbuia, and no one was bidding. It had what looked like two huge thumbprints at the waist. What looked like a defect in the pattern to most, was the thumbprint of God to me.

I hear it's easy to sell a "salesman". That is a true maxim, especially if they have any room on the credit line.   

[QUOTE=jtkirby]
A local store has some sizeable bubinga boards that are almost perfectly quartered and seem, in their semi-sanded state, to have a moderate amount of figure. They were whispering "resaw me ... resaw me". (I'm guessing that each board has about 6 B&S sets hiding within.) [/QUOTE]

Principle Two: When wood talks to you buy it. It's magical that way and does sometimes speak, if you're listening. Bob hears these voices I know. You're learning.Bruce Dickey38812.4103587963

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http://www.dickeyguitars.com

[QUOTE=TonyKarol] The lower bout on that is pretty sweet looking Dennis .. did your wife/girlfriend/nextdoorneighbour pose for that one or WHAT !!!!![/QUOTE]
Hi Tony, and thanks!

Meet "Angelina." My first. (I never completed the other one I started 25 years ago.) I just popped that picture in here as an example of Bubinga, but when I get this one done, I'll post a thread and talk a bit about where that shape came from.

Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Angelina .. yeah ....Jolie wouldnt be her last name now would it ??? !!!! Dont tell me the next one is going to be called Lara.

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

[QUOTE=Bruce Dickey] Kirby, a principle of wood acquisition, buy first, ask questions later.[/QUOTE]

Bruce - I think I've almost got that one under my belt.

I learned my lesson last year, in the shed at the local hardwood supplier that deals to most of the Philly area cabinet shops. I came across a plank of Wenge, 6/4, 10" wide, almost perfectly quartered, straight grained, a thin sapwood stripe running down almost the full, 16' length of the board. Would have cost me $180. I balked. I've thought many times how many B&S sets were in that board.

I have to pass your guitar complement along to a more deserving recipient - I didn't post anything in the thread.

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Jim Kirby
kirby@udel.edu