ANOTHER GOOD DAY of progress. French Polish on the Pinecones, also on the Bass. Good progress on a customers uke repair, and then to the necks.
First I had the sensual pleasure of shaping the "hook" of the neck for each of the three necks. I whittled them just the way I wanted them and then sanded them smooth. I guess this point in the build is my favorite. By the way, if you have not tried Exacto tools you are missing something. Boy are they sharp.
Once the necks were done I carefully fitted them to the tops and glued them on, positioning them for straightness with a long straight edge and tacking the tops to the necks with small brads driven through holes in a caul. Then clamped until morning. I have a little finish sanding to do on the cedar rings and there will be final shaping and sanding on the necks but things are looking good.
above; here you can see the plexiglas glueing caul and the brads driven through pre-drilled holes. The caul distributes the clamp pressure nicely. Before clamping double check to be sure your neck is perfectly straight with the top. A pair of pliers easily removes the brads. This progress brings me to the side bending so I sanded all the sides down to .72 and marked out their shapes. Next step is to saw them to shape and get the bender out. |