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Just ordered it from veneer supplies and it's on my bench. Easy peasy, not sure why I thought it'd be difficult to get.

Any instructions specifically pertaining to guitar and not flattening veneer? What's your process?

Ed: All I've ever done is spritz it on in the evening......it dries over night and then bend in the morning. One lesson I've learned is that it pulls color out of the wood and can stain anything it comes in contact with, such as white purfling on binding.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Thanks Tom,

So do sides and purfling separate?

BTW, the shipping was just stupid. 56.00 for a 16.90 quart. But whatcha gonna do?

I spritz the night before and wrap my sides in a plastic bag. In the morning the sides have absorbed the softener. They aren't dry, but they aren't really wet either. Rosewoods and other oily woods will bleed colour as Tom said. I'm always sure to bag them separate from light coloured woods. I only use the softener on woods that are known for being difficult to bend. Mainly gigured woods and also Mahogany. Anything else goes straight to the bender. When I'm ready to bend I spritz the sides lightly with water before bending.

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
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House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
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Should have explained myself better. When bending purfled binding the Supersoft pulls the darker resins from binding and stains the lighter purfling ( or the other way around depending on which is dark or light). It does not penetrate too far but may cause a size problem when scrapped off. No separation of binding from purfling or the combination when glued to guitar.
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

I do the plastic bag thing for a day or so as well, let dry (to avoid excessive fumes when heat bending), spritz lightly with water and wipe off before bending.

Know how it feels about the postage, so I went for a gallon,

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I am a big believer in SS2 - have bent many wildly figured sides including Ziricote, Bubinga, Bocote, Zebrawood without issue.
I spritz the SS2 day before bending, let dry for an hour standing up up, then lay flat, sandwiched between paper towels, and weighted down, overnight.
When bending, I use lightly spritzed craft paper, then a layer of foil, then the slats.
Incredibly effective, reproducible results, without staining or scorching.

+1 on wrapping a resinous side in kraft paper after using SS2. The used kraft paper will be coated with resin and not your slats or your newly bent side. So much less sanding that way.
SS2 is wonderful to work with although the shipping costs to Canada are nasty.

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Guitar Building = Continuous Improvement Process

I bend on a pipe and use SS2 on all my sides whether figured wood or not as it makes the job so much easier and is costs very little per guitar. I spray both sides of a guitar side and leave for about two hours prior to bending. Once bent I lightly spray the sides once again, clamp into the mold and leave overnight with excellent results. All the irregularities complete relax into shape. I bought a gallon and suspect it will last me for years. I had it delivered (for cheap) to a US hotel I was to stay at while on a road trip where I could then drive home rather than taking a plane.

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Doug

Don't let fear or common sense stop you from trying to build something

Thanks folks...

I guess shipping on a gallon would be 2nd mortgage time!

Alex

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"Indecision is the key to flexibility" .... Bumper sticker

Shipping on a gallon would probably have been the same.

Two years ago, I paid the cost of a gallon to ship a gallon to Windsor.

Bob