Busato vs Selmer construction

Bob Holo · October 2008

Yep, it's a tough bend. Take heart, it's not you - it's the bend. It's damned tough - not so much getting that bend, but getting it and then getting the return up to the fingerboard and nailing them both at the right radii in the right places with no warbling/piping of the board. If I have a wood that's particularly flaky/splitty occasionally I'll cover the outside of the bend with binding tape - actually packing tape (same thing) you can get at uHaul. It seems to hold up to water/steam fairly well. The better you get at it the less water you'll use and fewer gimics (tape / washcloths etc). Wood is tougher to bend when you use a lot of water but it takes a pretty good technique to bend using less water - so everyone starts out using more and gets warbly stained bends until they get better. It's OK - it's all part of the process. Try wrapping that bend in a wet washcloth to get more steam. It's the steam that does the bend. Eventually you'll just do the bend and people will ask you how and you won't really be able to tell them... you'll just say... um... well... you just wet it and bend it... Oh, and make sure your pipe is the right temperature. If you drip water on it and it stays there and sizzles, it's too cold. If the water explodes when it hits the pipe, it's too hot. The water should turn into little round bubbles and skitter around on the surface of the pipe till they fall off or dry up. That sounds weird but you'll know what I mean if you mess around with it. And be careful you can burn the living sh out of yourself on a properly heated bending iron. Think of it as a rattlesnake that wants to bite you. Use gloves and caution. And - take your time. A lot of bending turns out to be developing a feeling for when you can move the wood. You can only bend it so much in each pass and you have to feel when it loosens up and is ready to move - then you have a few seconds to make some progress then you have to stop - lift it off the pipe holding the progress you've made so it doesn't spring back - then re-wet and repeat. There's really no good way to teach hand-bending other than to tell a person the basics and then handing them a stack of wood. It's kind of like playing scales. If you're diligent and you play them consistenly and with the serious intent of mastering them - one day you'll wake up and find yourself playing scales well and fast and you'll think "How the heck did that happen?"