The first task of the day was to make the braces. They are made from exceptionally fine grained Sitka Spruce. It is important that the grain be vertical from the surface of the soundboard so as to provide maximum strength and resistance in as narrow a column as possible.
To save a bit of whittling time I cut out the rough shape on the band saw, and then refine them with sharp knife and sand paper.
Here are the tools of the trade. A pencil, a sharp exacto knife, A piece of 80 grit sand paper, and some just sawn and as yet not graceful brace blanks
Here the two braces are cut and glued to the underside of the toneboard .
And set into the Go-bar deck, clamped as the glue dries.
Next, lets smooth off the top of the necks in preparation to carve them. The top of the neck must be perfectly flat to eventually receive the fret board, and to plot out its shape
The rough shape is traced from this paper template and marked with white pencil to prepare for the bandsaw. Pencil lines are so darned hard to see on a dark piece of walnut.
After a trip to the bandsaw to be cut into the rough shape, and the side cuts made, the neck is taken to the vice and the shaping begins with a rough rasp. This tool hogs a lot of wood off fast. Be sure to wear gloves as it can really tear up your hands otherwise.
After a few minutes the rough shape is established. Now it is time for a smoother rasp/plane. When this is done it will be time for the scraper and sandpaper for the fine and final shaping. I will get to that tomorrow, but now lets attach the butt plates to the tone boards.
The butt plates I cut from scrap walnut some time ago so all I had to do was sand a little curve in them to fit the curve of the sides at the bottom of the instrument. Then it is time to add a bit of glue and clamp them on to dry.
And here are all three glued and clamped. I prefer these clamps for this project as they tighten down straight and don't tend to move the glued piece as they tighten as so many other types of clamps do.
Well thats enough for one day, It is almost 3;30 and my friends Rick, Judy and Chip will soon be arriving for our weekly jam session. We will play for an hour and a half and then join our spouses upstairs for a glass or two of wine before going out to dinner. A Wednesday tradition.
Well thats enough for one day, It is almost 3;30 and my friends Rick, Judy and Chip will soon be arriving for our weekly jam session. We will play for an hour and a half and then join our spouses upstairs for a glass or two of wine before going out to dinner. A Wednesday tradition.
