Author: Iain 'Cutty' Carlin

Sound board

• Cut side braces 9mm wide from leftover spruce from top (using band saw)
• Cut to length to fit between kerfing at waist and hips
• Thin sliver of glue onto brace then clamp in place with a block either side of body
• Leave to dry for an hour
• Then sand top again using radius dish to level off
• Mark brace positions as per the back, cut out with handsaw and remove keffin to 3mm depth with knife

 Neck

• Plane one side with No. 6 plane so square and heel block is flush with neck
• Mark shape with template onto heel
• Cut shape with bandsaw
• Mark centre of neck and place into dovetail jig
  • Centre on line on jig with neck line and end
  • Clamp in place (adjust angle of base so flush with block)
• Remove from jig and cut bulk of wood off in band saw then replace in jig ready for routing dovetail

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More body work

• Use edge trimmer in router to take excess of back while in mould. Trim to match the side
• Check rotation direction of router and follow that direction round the back in mould (e.g. anti-clockwise)
• Split mould to remove back and sides
• Tidy up any excess with chisel or sanding and insert back into mould with back down ready to do front
• Front the same as back – trim with block plane to get neck and base roughly the right height then sand with radius disc till you can see even deposits of wood dust round complete perimeter of body
• Glue in kerfing as per front and hold in with pegs

 Neck

• Plane neck block flat, use template to locate position on neck then glue and clamp in place with 2 ‘G’ clamps

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Back preparation

• Removed sides from mould (had to use big chisel to get sides out of mould)
• Put blocks and dowels into holes in mould to raise the back sides above top of mould
• Use large chisel to take off material to top and bottom from waist, keeping the height at the waist
• Use block plane to taper down till sanding dish fits on with a rock at the hips
• Plane hips till block nearly flush
• Sand in clockwise direction until even layer of dust is produced round the circumference of the sides

 Kerfing

• Fit the kerfing dry and cut to size – slide into bends on sides to avoid breaking the kerfing
• Glue and hold down with pegs (with rubber bands fitted for extra pressure)

 Neck

• Planed neck and head together to get flush fit
• Glued neck and head together with blocks either side and 2 “G” clamps

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Fitting neck and end blocks

• Plane blocks so that bottom is flush with bottom of jig
• Had to plane chamfers into sides of the neck block
• Had to plane down the contact edges so they are flush with the top and bottom of the sides
• Glued blocks into place and held with “G” clamps

Neck

• Started on the neck. Thickeness to 18mm then cut to jig dimensions on band saw ready to glue (did another crap cut on the bandsaw)
• Using scarf joint method instead of laminating (is stronger but not necessarily easier)

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Moulding Sides

• Removed 2nd Side from bender (was a bit charred due to being heated too long)
• Same process as 1st side to put into mould:
  • Remove 1st side
  • Cut roughly to size with some overlap
  • Set centre line and mark with square
  • Cut using block and Tenon/dovetail saw
  • Place both sides into jig and tighten up block
  • Had to block plane edges to fit flush

Front braces

• Cut thin flat braces for front from left over top and bottom materials (not enough for bridge brace so had to modify the shape to suit available materials)
• Glued front braces, bridge and sound hole braces and placed into go-bar jig to dry

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