Gypsy Guitar Selmer Style Oval Hole

[Dave Bagwill]

Excellent. I do really like the neck heel on the Gypsy guitars.

[Jim Ebert]

Herman, this is great. I love that you are doing this. I looks great and can't wait to see the progress.

[Herman]

Top bending: tough job!
I made this bending box, according to Michael Collins book. Same material, same dimensions.



100 watt lamp in it, little wetting of the area and clamping to the box. I let it sit for 10 minutes at first: no bend at all.
Ok, maybe to short time: 30 minutes in the heat: No bend!!! #$$^*
No panic, 175 watt heating lamp in it. All in position and 20 minutes patience: NO BEND!!!!
The only bend I get is warping because of the wetting. Grrrr.
I knew it was a stiff top, but this stiff? iIt is only 2.1 mm/0.08" thick, it should bend!
I do not dare to drown the top in water as I do with back and sides. It could damage the wood beyond salvation.

So: the bending iron method. I wetted the top and put the iron on mid-hot. Guess what: NO Bend at all!!
All what was left was an iron on max. Well, The top did bend but unwillingly and I got serious scorch marks.
Pffff, not funny.

[Herman]

Now something that seems to go the right way.
For joining the bend top you can't succeed on a flat surface for a true joint and proper clamping.
So for that a curved shooting board is made from 3/4" mdf (for workability) and 3/4 "multiplex" (for stiffness) in the angle/curve the top has (or should have )



The first step is planing the top's edges on the shooting board, until you get a proper joint. Crucial: the top is 2.1mm thick, so you can't rely on a lot of sanding material to correct things. Go slow and be as precise as possible.



Satisfied I was with the joint, I went for the final step:
Glueing the top together. baking paper to the board. For clamping pressure on the glue joint I used some screws and little wedges. simple but effective.



For keeping the top flat to the surface I used some flat braces and some clamps.

[John Parchem]

Thanks, Your last two posts covering a bent top are showing and addressing the concerns I have had in building one. I bend 1.7 mm spruce strips when I make falcate guitar braces. I have found some spruce will not bend at all or not bend with my techniques on a hot pipe. Other strips bend with no issue. I have had enough trouble joining perfectly flat plates. I have not been able to see myself bending and jointing two plates and having them line up. I can start to imagine it now seeing you planing the edges by basically turning the gluing caul and your bench into a specialized shooting board.

[Dave Bagwill]

That's a real challenge Herman. It's my guess that you WILL conquer and WIN.

[Herman]

Ya, "pigheaded" is my middle name. Ha!