With a break like this with plenty of surface area, I would just glue it without any additional supports. My glue of choice is hot hide glue, but there will be lots of opinions on that and many option…
I think that's a good move. One thing I might do to kick things of is to hit the area with some ultra thin master glue so it wicks under the area and prevents more chipping from potentially delaminate…
Hi guys, I finally managed to sort the problem out. Seens like was a simple issue that I cant see in that moment. I took the whole bridge apart and did a complete setup from scratch. I read somewhere…
This is precisely why Leo Fender developed the insideless guitar. A compromised neck block is super hard to come back from and when I see something like this, it leads me to believe that it's the tip…
Chris, can I add this for the council of elders show ? Also, we are going to have @member on pretty soon to talk about a job about this dramastic. Here's a link to the live show co…
I have a set of bubinga for an acoustic back, but one piece had a slight cup that made it difficult to work with for joining together. This is pre-thicknessed, with the piece at 4.5 mm thick. I tried wetting and heating it, as I do for sides, and pressed it flat during the process. I heated it to 300 degrees F, and then let it cool while pressed, and the cup got substantially worse.
I then pressed it into a reverse cup using a radius dish, and heated it dry to 275 degrees. this did not improve the cup.
Any other suggestions? This is a beautiful figured piece and I hate to waste it
Bubinga definitely makes you work for it. It seems like you have this under control now. but now that you have it reasonably flat I would sticker it and leave it for a couple months to acclimate in correctly humidified shop.
Normally when you get a cup you can mist a little water on the concave side. The water will get into the fibers and swell them a bit, that will make them larger and help flatten out the side with the cup. Generally i don't like doing this for acoustic guitars because I don't want to add more moisture, but I do that quite a bit for drop tops for electrics when the panels misbehave and it works pretty well.
If you haven't worked with Bubinga before, bending sides can be challenging. It likes to facet more than bend. I would bend them THIN and hit them with the supersoft on both sides.
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That is somewhat unusual for quartersawn wood. Wood cups following the curve of the annular rings (towards the bark, away from the center). That doesn't give it much room in a quartersawn piece. That said, what usually happens is that one side of the board somehow gets more moist than the other; the wet side expands and the dry side shrinks, and presto!
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To get the nice figure in Bubinga, ordinarily the board is flat sawn. That greatly increases the likelihood of cupping. If you are able to flatten out the cup enough to joint the 2 pieces and thickness sand, I think you will be OK. My experience has been that properly installed back braces can stabilize even a moderate cup.
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Michael,
Thanks for responding. Looking at the end grain, my panels are definitely quarter sawn (about 5-10 degrees off of perfect). Go figure (pun intended).
So far, success with the Supersoft. I am just waiting for the panel to fully dry in a flat pressed condition. The panel was so cupped in both directions I don't think I could have joined it, let alone get a good clean thickness in the drum sander.
Interestingly, the other half is dead flat and shows no sign of cupping.
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Thanks. I have some supersoft 2. Is this the same formula?
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You could try a veneer softener. DIY recipe is cheap and easy. I haven't tried it on bubinga, not sure how effective it would be. If that piece is holding a lot of tension it might be better as an electric top
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Thanks. I have some Supersoft 2. Is this the same formula?
In either case, what is the recommended process? Apply and wait to soak in, or try to bend immediately?
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↪ Private memberI have no idea what the supersoft formula is, it could be similar.
This is what I went with after finding a few variations online with the same ingredients. I just spray the pieces thoroughly and then "sticker" the boards to allow air flow, flat panels top and bottom and some weight on top. Some people recommend fiberglass insect screen mesh for airflow. It worked out fine first time for the very warped and twisted spalted beech I'd received so I didn't try anything else. If it does flatten out you'll need to let it dry thoroughly while it's pressed.
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↪ Private memberSorry - my last post did not come out right.
I sprayed the wood last night with Supersoft, and pressed it into the sanding dish in a reverse curve. This morning, it was almost perfectly flat. I am now letting it fully dry pressed totally flat.