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Hi folks,

Does anyone happen to have a source for bwb fiber purfling that is 60” + in length?

Specifically I use bwb that is .015”x3 in width and 63” long that I got from Gurian. They don’t have it on the site anymore. I sent a mail to them, but curious if anyone has other sources?

I would entertain the idea of doing the glue up myself if there are suppliers of the fiber material in 60” lengths.

The usual suspects like RC and others only have 32” lengths.

Brad


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they only make it in 32 in length

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
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You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

If you do a scarf joint (one angle on top of the other) when you inlay it, the joint usually disappears.

I use a lot of 20/20/20 bwb which i bought from LMI up until now. That seems to have disappeared from the world, too. I bought up all that RC Tonewoods had a couple of weeks ago. (They seem to have have some more now, but I haven’t called Peter to ask about the reliability of his supply.) I’m going to have to learn how to cut consistent .080” strips of veneer.

If you find sources, please let us know.

I mainly use real wood veneer these days, because I like the colors, but I pay the price in terms of fragility. I wish I could get fiber in good colors. It would be a lot easier to work with.

For simple lines, I’ve lately been gluing up a sandwich of veneers in my body mold, then bandsawing pre-bent purfling sets. The John Bogdanovich book and videos are great resources for this way of working.

The 20/20/20 BWB seemed to disappear for a while. I was able to get some from StewMac last week.


Steve

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Gurian got back to me and they have some 63” bwb going to Allied in the near future so I’ll likely switch to that once it becomes available. It’s the same bwb layup that I like just cut a little wider at .080” instead of the .060” I’m used to.

Thanks all!


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Another way we could go about this is a bulk order ourselves. Gurian has a $200 minimum order.

Steve, Bob, others… interested?


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Sure, I’m interested. I use bwb 20/20/20 and bw 20/20. If that helps, I’m willing to buy however much it takes to get you to the minimum after you get what you want, and maybe a bit more. Are there break points that would give us a better price? I didn’t realize they would make it for us since it wasn’t on their webpage anymore.

I’m interested 0.080 BWB would be fine with me and the longer pieces would make things easier.


Steve

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

Ok, let me check with them and circle back. 20/20/20 is fine with me going forward.


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Bob / Steve,

I reached out via email to make it easier to coordinate.

Brad

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Got the emails - thanks Brad!


Steve

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Steve Smith
"Music is what feelings sound like"

I’ve been interested in getting some black/koa/black purf from Gurian, so I’d be in.


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That order has been made. Sorry. You might contact them directly. Their minimums seem to be based on practical fabrication considerations, ie. how many pieces come out of one veneer sheet.

Sorry about that, James.


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Right. For custom purflings it's by the glue-up.

I usually make up my purfling from veneer, in pieces an inch or two wide that I can cut strips off. Usually the veneer is rotary sliced, and often enough there's some twist in the trunk, which becomes diagonal grain in the veneer. This can be a pain to cut strips from and smooth out later, and also a problem to bend. I have found that it's advantageous to start by ripping the leaf of veneer along it's length to get an edge that runs along the grain. Obviously you want to start with veneer that doesn't run out too badly so that you can get long pieces that are wide enough. I get my veneers at a Woodcraft Supply store, and inspect the packages carefully. Of course there is some waste in this, but I think it's worth it in reducing the number of broken strips; better three pieces you can use than four you can't.

Alan, thank you for the tip on grain direction. That explains why I’ve always had so much trouble slicing veneers into narrow pieces. I laid in some Woodcraft veneers so that I could make my own purfling strips after the ones I use often disappeared from/with LMI. But, when the opportunity popped up to get them premade, I was all for that. Some parts of guitarmaking I enjoy more than others.

Hooray! 92pcs of 15/15/15 @ 63” long. I will be set for a long, long time.


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It looks so small for so much money. Mine should come Friday.

What was the final cost to have the purfling made?

My 92 strips of 20/20/20 was $565 including shipping to me.

Mine was only cheaper because it’s smaller layup and cut on their slitter instead of the saw which means it took a lot less material to get to 92 pcs. It was $340 for 15/15/15.

ETA - I use the 15/15/15 on both guitars and ukes so that’s why I use the thinner layup.

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