Acoustic Guitar Construction

Any reason why .020" 2024 aluminum wouldn't work for bending sandwich slats? I just scrounged up a sheet big enough to cut four 6x36 slats out of it.

If I initially fastened a slat to the form, then can I conclude I could use a heat blanket and an outer slat, using the slat that is part of the form for the inner slat of the bending sandwich? Sure seems as if it would simplify the fiddling with metal/wood/heat blanket sandwiches.

.020" will work fine -- yes, you still need an inside slat to support the wood and help with compression, but whole idea of covering the form is so you can heat the inside of the form and not have to screw around with the sandwich and in turn apply the heat to the correct (compression side) of the curve. The problem with a heat blanket is that it's heating the wrong side of the wood except at the waist. I think this is why I hear makers setting the temperature far higher that we use (under 250). Our cutaway fixture heats on the inside and has a blanket and tensioned shim slats on the outside as well.

Ken, thanks for explaining heat sources a bit. Makes sense. Are there any heat sources besides light bulbs that can be used inside the form? I have a 'light bar' with four nasty-bright floodlamps on it that throw a lot of heat. Would these reflector bulbs be usable inside the form? Limitation being that they better be smaller in diameter than the inside width of the base. And they are still incandescent bulbs, but they're also paid for...

Seems we have binary discussions, heat blankets versus light bulbs, and nothing else.

Thanks.

?????? Try it don't leave unattended