The Bending Blues

[Darryl]

Hi all, 

My first attempt at bending the sides for my home-build reso went reasonably well (no splits, no fires, no tantrums). But the bend at the waist is a little more relaxed than I'd like (see attached). I have a support frame/jig that will hold it in the right shape whilst I glue the back and soundboards on, but I'm concerned that gluing it under tension will lead to the whole soundbox becoming warped over time, or worse. I intend to fit an internal support bar between the tail and neck blocks, so this can serve to pull the two ends of the body together and relieve some of that tension. 

I suppose my question is this: Will the tension in the waist ease with time or should I try to remedy it before assembly? (And, if so - how? I was thinking that dampening the sides at the waist and then leaving it in the jig for a couple of weeks might help, but it might also warp it.)

The sides are solid mahogany 0.09" and I will add strengthening pieces between the kerfing strips before assembly.

Thanks for any advice.

Attachments:

[Stevie]

This is outside my experience, but as a long forgotten sheet metal worker, I'd stick my neck out and say the side isn't long enough, and you'd need to reprofile the back and top ever so slightly to compensate (as in you'd otherwise need to stretch the timber to fill that gap.) If you reshape the side(s) alone, then there will be a gap at one end or the other? I stand to be corrected in short order!

でつ e&oe ...

[Darryl]

Thanks, Stevie. I agree that there'll have to be a bit of adjustment to the original plan for the front/back. We'll see how it goes!