Started this one way back when I last visited Steve Stevens. Brought some Paduak and Curly Makore to Steve who showed me how to get the most sets out of the wood and resawed it for me.
When I made the purpleheart guitar it was both Ben's and Olivia's favorite color, but since then Olivia has changed to pink. Didn't want to build another purpleheart anyway so it works for me. I let her pick through my wood and she chose the Paduak which is usually more orange while this board was pinkish.
Here I'm picking out the set for Olivia's which is going to be based on Steve's shape he used for Kathy's left hand guitar and most recently his mesquite builds.
Since it's based on a Steven's shape the mold was on hand... we went for it. Here I'm thicknessing the side
Setting it up to bend with a blanket. metal slat, aluminum foil, paper towel, wood (lightly spritzed with water), paper towel, foil, blanket, metal slat all taped together with metal tape.
Set it on 320 for 15 minutes, and bent it after it reached temperature for about 5 minutes on the first side and 10 minutes on the second.
Put it in the mold we had made
I think I should have gone a little thinner, especially since there was some curl to the wood, but both sides had some cracking in the lower bout mostly on the side designated for the back.
I was in the process of finishing Ben's purpleheart and my Maple cutaway so this sat in the mold for a couple of months. Recently, I cut some cauls shaped to match the bend and using a bending iron, wax paper and epoxy, I clamped the cracked areas into shape.
I think they will work, although I still plan to reinforce the area from the inside.
This was back in January, and there is more to come to get this caught up, but this is enough for now.
Raymond
