Acoustic Guitar Construction

To make and effective cut-away side bender we found that it is imperative to keep the wood supported under tension on both sides throughout the entire bending cycle. To that end we copied some of the principles of the Taylor factory benders minus the pneumatic assists -- instead we use high compression springs. The form is heated with light bulbs from the inside and a heat blanket on the out side -- that way the inside (compression side) of all the curves is getting sufficient heat.

OK Ken,
Let's take the cutaway bender a little farther, how are you dealing with the spring tension side of the bender. Are you using some sort of sled to adjust the slats as you bend the cutaway? I'd like to build a bender that is just set up to do cutaways for the different body types. How about a few more pictures of the bender and some thoughts on how well it works, I'm ready to work on this project.

Yes the springs are attached to a slide mechanism -- sorry Bob this is a proprietary production device I will not be posting more detailed pictures. As indicated it just for thought starters.

That's a real nice jig Ken for Venetian cuts, I've always 'winged' it with my cutaway attachment and got away with it so far, not sure if I should wait until I break a side before doing something about it!
But I do have a spring tensioned attachment for my Florentine cuts very similar to this one and it works a treat.

It depends on what fella likes, but since I am not yet up to bending venetians, I use the 'fallaway cutaway' that I stole from Bourgeois. It's easy to do, no chance for me to crack a side :-)