I think I have fallen a bit in love with Kasha Baritones. The one I recently made of Australian Blackwood and Sitka Spruce captivated me. Now the baritone I am making of Bubinga and Sitka is beginning to speak to me. Today I very successfully cut the binder groves and tomorrow I will bend the binders and start their installation. 'This is going to be a very pretty instrument.
It is always a bit frightening to take a router to the delicate edge of an instrument. There is alway the possibility of splitting a chunk out of a side, or slipping and creating a huge gouge. Today it went perfectly.
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The biggest hurdles are past. Glueing in the binding is pretty simple and stress free, Here is the channel for the end piece. When that is done I will fret the fingerboard and glue it on= but that was a bit of a hassle.
I cut down a piece of Honduran Rosewood, planed it and sanded it to proper thickness, changed the saw blade and cut the fret slots, Then I drew on the curve, sawed the thing to shape, even installed the para abalone marker dots, and then I did'nt like it. It was a little short I thought, and the curve started at the 14th fret instead of down a little farther on the body. It bugged me for a day and night, so today I did it all over again, and now I am happy. So this is what it is going to look like when all done. This sitka has some nice bear claw in it, always a pleasant touch. If this sounds as good as it is going to look, think I will keep it and sell my other fan braced baritone. Anyone interested?
