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Speaking of Trevor Gore... I've started using falcate bracing on my ukuleles and in making the braces, 3 strips of .0625" spruce are bent and then put in a bent lamination glue up rig using epoxy. Bending spruce is no fun on a hot pipe. It's slow, fussy, the fibers want to delaminate. I have been thinking about building a small dedicated steam box. Pulling all 3 of the strips out at once and bending them over a form with a metal back…

So, I made a modular clamp based on the split clamp idea. Started on a prototype about two months ago and finished it. What I was aiming for was a clamp that I could use on the BOTTOM of acoustic guitars as well as tops to clamp cracks, cleats, braces, patches etc. Especially a clamp that would access small openings like "F" holes, small sound holes etc. Essentially a way to get a clamp to areas not accessible to jacks, wedges etc.,…

I bought the O'brien vacuum clamp and a pump to clamp bridges on new builds, but also to use for repair work. I got tired of making custom top and bottom cauls for every odd-shaped bridge that comes in my shop. The vacuum clamp works great on a flat surface with no pick guard. I put it on a J45 with a pick guard, and it won't seal. The gasket is too hard to form over the pick guard. I've seen YouTube videos of other folks using vacu…

hello looths - i'm building my first guitar. generally following (and enjoying) the gore/gilet books. after 3 tries, i've yet to get a crack free bend around the nose of a venetian cutaway with a mahogany side. i made a version of the fox bender - using clamps on hand for the waist and cutaway, and a pid temp controller (verified accuracy), and am using a stew mac blanket and three straps. the recipe for my last attempt was: sapelle (fo…

Please can I see some quick cauls for dealing with fret pressing at heel transitions? For pressed / glued in frets or clamping down lifting fret ends in this area. I’ve tried a few different methods now and not entirely happy with any of them