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Hi All, I recently picked up an unassembled guitar back, sides and top. The back and sides are figured maple and the person I bought them from (along with more back and sides, uncut and unbent) bent the sides wrong so they are bent for a left handed cutaway. The top and back are right handed and pre braced.
My question is, will it loose to much strength to flatten out the sides and bend them the correct way? It seems that may stress the fibers too much but I am not really sure. Would a veneer flattening solution help in anyway? Any thoughts?

Ut-oh…

The builder I learned from did Venetian cutaways by bending the side in a bending machine on a non-cutaway form and then reversing the bend on the upper bout treble side on a hot pipe to make the cutaway bend. He routinely used this method a variety of woods. I used his method for the guitar I built under his guidance. The highly figured Macassar ebony side for that guitar handled the full bend reversal with no problems.

That said, do the sides on your guitar have that heavy quilted figuring like the back does? I've bent curly maple and birdseye maple and both bent easily on a hot pipe and it would have been easy to reverse the bends on those. I don't have experience with quilted maple though. Maybe someone else here can comment on whether quilted maple would be a challenge.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

easy
take a cloths iron
place wet paper towels on the sides
heat and steam , iron flat put into bender BINGO

the key is heat and steam

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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 would go for it as John described…

I'd love to see the results b/c I never would have guest that would be possible. Keep us posted with pics please.

I had the happen to a friend of mine once. Two times no less.

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You and Robbie O’Brien must know some of the same people!

I’ve bent them backwards before (I bend on a hot pipe). I turned them over and rebent them the right way.

Never done it on a cutaway, but I have bent sides backwards twice. I spayed them with water, put them on my cement floor with a bending blanket on top (no stainless slats), turned on the blanket , and gradually pressed them flat by hand. with a wood block. No issues. Both sets were savable. Good luck-Bob

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“ The meaning of life is to find your gift and the purpose of life is to give it away” Pablo Picasso

I can understand how you can bend sides wrong - as in two lefts or two rights, or bottom bout grain where it should be top bout, but if the sides are not glued to the top or bottom plates, a set that is otherwise matching should be able to be used for a left or right handed cutaway.
Some quilted maples can be difficult to bend and will sometimes fracture across the grain, so be careful rebending it.

I have bent sides wrong and couldn't rebend them - they were laminated with epoxy. I built a guitar with them and have never had anyone notice the mistake.

...heat, steam, and SuperSoft 2.

Quilted maple is one of those woods that will ripple across the grain without some help, as well as blow out in tight cutaways. Treat the side with SS2, allow to dry for 24 hours, then work the ironing on a flat, firm surface... use a scrap of damp cotton bed sheet stapled over a piece of birch plywood, and another bed sheet scrap to cover. Once done, re-SS2 and bend. Early on, I did this with a curly anigre side as the boys ate some popcorn and watched the show. Not nice. SS2 is the only stuff that really works on curly anigre, and flattening & rebending went well. Rosewoods or plain figure mahogany, cherry, etc. don't need the help, but that quilt will definitely benefit.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

…..and any seasoned builder who claims to have never bent sides backwards is either suffering from some sort of mental fatigue or flat out telling a falsehood.

I did not miss-bend the side; I just got a bit ahead of myself and did a side for the NEXT guitar.

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For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

With the wild looking grain that quilted maple has, and the fact that the guitar is a cutaway, and not symmetrical I might be tempted to use the set as is and not risk the unbend/rebend process. Do you have a picture that shows the two sides and what you feel the problem is?
Quilted maple has a weird optical effect anyway. Looking at the book matched back, the right side looks "quilted" and the left side looks "cratered". Book matching the sides will give a similar effect.

I made a similar mistake years ago, and I am betting it was John who gave me the same advice. That's what I did and it worked out fine. Take your time. You might want to buy your own iron, my wife was not happy with me!. I keep one in the shop for numerous uses now.

Mike

This would depend on if the sides were profiled before bend. If not, you are correct. I noticed that the OP did not provide that information.

You can use windex with ammonia D ammonia is a wood cell softener and can help
don't rush you will feel the wood soften then go for it
I did on 3 times
Beer was involved
bend backward then bent wrong way front to back had another beer then it went right

_________________
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

John. Really? Not that I would know.