Its finally time to bend the Padauk sides for my acoustic guitar build.

I don’t yet have a bending iron so my friend Matt, over at Zimbelman Guitars volunteered his side bender to bend the sides for me. At his shop, we thicknessed the sides to .090″, then sprayed them with water, wrapped them in foil and loaded them into his bender along with a heat blanket. After about 30 minutes, we had a well done side, that we clamped into my mold. After bending the second side and clamping it in the mold, I let them dry overnight while they were clamped in place.

The next day, I trimmed the sides to length and glued in the neck and heel blocks. This connects the sides. Now I can grab my radius dishes and sand the top and back to their respective radius. This process in known as driving the bus, as it resembles steering a vehicle with a large steering wheel. This was a ton of work but turned out awesome. My sides are now ready for kerfing and I can’t wait.

Check out Matt’s handmade guitars over at his website zimbelmanguitars.com. Thanks for stopping by.

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