Putting a curve in a tailpiece.

[fender3x]

Looking to find out if there is some easy, or straightforward, or good way of doing this. I will be using a trapeze tailpiece with my ES bass that looks like this:



The problem is that the bass of the "hook" part of the tail piece is flat where it attaches to the guitar...



...but the butt end of the guitar where it attaches is curved.

Any suggestions for how to bend this piece in such a way that it accurately takes the curve on the body of the guitar?

[stan]

Scribe/trace the same arc of the guitar body onto a small block of wood.
Cut out with jigsaw - you then have a positive and negative
Sandwich the metal you want bent in between, then into the vice and tighten.

alternatively you could place the metal onto the positive template you just made and directly hammer into shape, dont use a metal hammer

A pair of pliers either end of the metal piece, place rags in the jaws to protect your piece and bend...

Big hammer - wack!!

[Zandit75]

That last option would have been my solution!!

[dingobass]

Time to break out the Big Rubber Mallet of Mass Beating..

[fender3x]

Thanks! I'll get to work on a template and find my tailpiece whacker. Wait that sounds... I meant rubber hammer.

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[stan]

Thanks! I'll get to work on a template and find my tailpiece whacker. Wait that sounds... I meant rubber hammer.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-N900A using Tapatalk

so many options, none of them safe....

[fender3x]

Not for the squeemish this luthiary...

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[pablopepper]

Yeah, you know what time it is...

[fender3x]

Scribe/trace the same arc of the guitar body onto a small block of wood.
Cut out with jigsaw - you then have a positive and negative
Sandwich the metal you want bent in between, then into the vice and tighten.

Ended up doing a modified version of this. I cut out a positive and negative out of good quality 3/4" plywood. I sandwiched the piece in between and then put one end of the form on the cement, and whacked the other side a few times with a hammer. That *almost* got it. So, I bent the ends by giving it a couple of soft whacks with a rubber hammer so that there was slightly too much curve. Repeated putting it in the form and whacking it a few times. That got it perfectly.

Thanks guys!