#98 IS STRUNG

And I am delighted with the results!  This is one big voiced tenor with bright trebles and rich warm and strong basses.  The Cocobolo/Cedar combination is an excellent one as I had hoped, plus I like the looks.

 I sat outside in the sunshine this afternoon, "playing in" the strings and feeling this new tenor out.  I love it !.  I will hate to see it leave, It is headed for Philadelphia. The 
following photos illustrate the last little details of stringing it up.

After calculating where I wanted the strings to go, I marked the spot on the bridge with a sharp point.  Then the hand drill is used to carefully drill a hole for the tapered auger.  In the second picture the lighter colored sawdust indicates the drill now going through the cedar top and the walnut backing plate under it.

Now the auger enlarges each hole for the bridge pins.  I put the blue tape on as a security measure in case either the drill bit, or the auger should slip and scratch the soft cedar top.  Each bridge pin must be carefully fit as they can vary a bit in size.  The second photo shows a bridge pin in a hole that needs a little more work on the auger, maybe two turns.

Two turns didn't quite do it.  Lets try just one more

Ah!,  now they all fit just right.

Now the bison bone saddle must be cut down to size.  That is easy to do with the jewelers saw.

Now to level it off with a file and put the bevel, or slope in it to guide the string over it properly

Now, with this tiny saw, I will cut a slot for the string at the center/front of each pin hole.

And now it is time to insert the strings, a knot,  into the slot in the hole,  push in the pin and go on to the next. Voila, before long it is strung and ready to play,  Now for the moment of truth!

#98 is a good one.