Most gut wrenching thing you've broken?
 

Wanted to ask the pros here. I am creeping up toward my first set of sides to be bent (EIR just a regular set). I wanted to know I wasn't alone if things went south. I wanted a good "yeah that stinks but at least it wasn't Sinker rosewood pulled from a Roman ship at the bottom of the Black Sea" story.

Again, I wanted to ask some pros. If admins feel the need to move me to the regular build forum, so be it.

Pretty hard to mess up rosewood, I wouldn't worry.

I always worry.

Maybe this hobby’s not for me. Lol

It's a high anxiety pastime in all regards. But rosewood is very cooperative when it comes to bending.

Everyone worries on their first second and third set, after that it is the same as driving your car, you go through the motions and it’s done.

Just don’t be critical of your work, it’s your first time, I have so many people come into my shop with their first or second bent set devastated it didn’t go the way they wanted, they envisage perfection and building a better guitar than most manufacturers do.

It takes time.

Just enjoy the way the wood moves as you bend it, simplistic but fun.

Steve

If you are talking about breaking sides when bending then I'd say ease up on your worrying. Unless maybe you are doing a highly figured wood like curly maple. I've built 65 guitars now and have yet to break any sides trying. Most of the time the issue is bending the waste perfectly to fit the outline but even that usually turns out close enough.

Just make sure you have a good set up. The pipe needs to be really hot. A drop of water should jump and sizzle right off the pipe, then you know it's hot enough to bend.

I haven’t made the jump to building a guitar (yet), but I’ve made two banjos.

One of the things I discovered along the way is how much you learn to repair mistakes when building an instrument. I realized it while working on an intricate 12th fret inlay and routed a little outside the lines. I knew I couldn’t just discard the entire fretboard and learned some tricks to hide my mistake. It was simple, but taught me the importance of not necessarily not making mistakes, but learning how to fix them. After that, the worry was reduced (some)

This guy makes side bending look pretty easy. He completes a complex side in just over 8 minutes.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=9jf8J6rt6ng

Most gut wrenching thing you've broken? My spirit. ;)

This seems fitting.
I was doing a neck reset on a parlor guitar that my grandmother's stepfather had made in the 1920's. Nothing super special but decent fingerstyle.
I had it all fit, glued and clamped up resting mainly on the clamps themselves on either ends of the guitar.
I looked over to my left and saw a rag I needed to do some cleanup, it was about 4 feet away. I looked back at the guitar, I looked back at the rag and hesitated.
I took 3 steps toward the rag and turned back to see the clamps slowly toppling off the bench snapping the heel in half and leaving the other half in the dovetail.
Gut Wrenching seems to describe it.

I collect pieces of exotic woods like The Tree and Lucky Strike and make guitar themed accessories from them. I messed up a build and scrapped a small batch of The Tree. I was able to salvage some of it but it was pretty upsetting.

The most gut wrenching thing was when the end pin slipped out of my D-16GT while I was wearing it but occupied with something else and as such heard that sickening crack sound.

A close second was after bending the first set of mahogany sides for my first build. They were very brittle and I saw firsthand how crucial it is to clamp them in - and when they are don’t touch them until you’re ready to do the kerfed linings. One side cracked like rice crackers.

That being said, I found rosewood to be a dream to bend. Very little spring back; it wants to keep its shape because of the oils within. Also, if you suffer a key crack no big deal. The variations in the grain make it nearly impossible not to hide a repair. I found this out through repairing a key crack - which BTW is very scary to do regardless.

Just remember, thinner bends easier. I've gone down to .006" thick with mesquite and bloodwood. I wouldn't recommend trying bloodwood until you've bent a few sides.