Drop Top How To

[Greenman]

Warmoth says they have developed a special process for forming 1/8" wood over a body and forearm contour. I would like to do this with 1/4", forget the binding and apply a 1/8 radius to the top edge. Is this possible? Any Ideas or links.

[LajoieT]

Steam and a LOT of pressure if you're planning on bending it.

[Frank Martin]

Originally Posted by Greenman

I would like to do this

Sure, but unless you have a specialised shop for this, it won't be possible

There are lots of customs where the wood shows at that part.
Second, are you sure you need a forearm contour? My new bass doesn't have these contours and it doesn't need them, either, I find it more comfortable this way (thought I'm playing chest-height, so maybe that's why)

[Gard]

Originally Posted by LajoieT

Steam and a LOT of pressure if you're planning on bending it.

There is also a vacuum/gluing technique, and I believe that's what they do at Warmoth (among others, check the "deluxe" topped Lakland basses for a similar appearance).

[LajoieT]

Yea, those vacuum presses are da bomb!!!

[bwbass]

We do it with a vacuum bag inside a high-pressure autoclave tank here:

http://www.warmoth.com/customerservi...r/shoptour.cfm

It's really overkill for our 1/8" lam-tops, but we've done tops as thick as .200" with this setup. I think you'd have a really hard time doing a 1/4" top like this by yourself, though.

When I was at Roberto-Venn I did one that was about 3/16" by routing some parallel slots halfway through the top from the underside to make it easier to bend. The slots stopped about 3/4" from the edges of the body so I could blend the edge radius in without exposing them.

Tips:

The forearm carve must bend in only one axis, meaning that it needs a shape like a cylinder, not a bowling ball. If it's even a little dome-shaped you'll have a hell of a time getting the edges of the top to lay down.

Spray some water on just the top side of the laminate before you do the bend... it will make the top of the lam swell and bend down a bit on its own.

Use lots and lots of clamps, and do a dry run with the clamps before you start to make sure you can get them all on before the glue starts to set.

[LajoieT]

Originally Posted by Warmoth's Shop Tour Web Site

Necks with odd scales, white lined fretless bass necks, etc, are slotted one slot at a time in this custom tool. The saw slides on the top rails and indexes into an aluminum scale.

Thanks for the info BW.

Autoclave would be a great idea, It would keep things nice and toasty warm!!!

[Greenman]

Thanks for the good info BW thats the way I'm thinking of doing it.

[bwbass]

Greenman - yes, that was exactly what I had in mind.

LajoieT - Oops! I'm glad somebody's reading what we put up there, even if it isn't us. I just yelled at our webmaster about that. By the way, if you're looking, yes, that's my picture on page 12...

[Astroboy]

That Looks sooooooooooooooo easy WOW

What do i do?

Take the inner side- Where the "kerf"+? is supposed to be glued- sorry never hear about it before.
Leave some slack for surplus glue- hope not - and wind it together like boy-scout turkey?

Or, do you, after using your saw, steamer and glue; do what?


It looks very impressive, so there must be more than one nut around..............

PS. I,m trying - just loking around to get a feeling from you gys, which way to start.

Gat it sanded, it's an old Aria 2 - the wood's real nice so maybe I 'll stay with a light sllellac.


But I'll wait for responces, off course, being in such nice company

Michael

PS: The trim i wanna put on as the latest, black or white

Originally Posted by Greenman

Thanks for the good info BW thats the way I'm thinking of doing it.