Building the Bending Form

Once the the wood is removed from the steam box it needs to be placed on a form so that it retains its shape after it cools.  I built a form by taking some scrap wood and cutting two pieces that were the same shape as the front and back of the guitar will be.  I used the same template from the front and back to make the shape of the form.  I joined the two pieces with the necessary wood to make the form wide enough for my bent pieces.  Here is what the finished form looked like.

Notice that I cut some square holes in the form to accept clamps.  Also, I added some aluminum flashing over the top of the form (not shown) to add some support in the middle.  I'll use the same aluminum under the clamps just to lessen the chance of having the wood split.