First I had to glue on both the butt block the head block to the tone board or top of the instrument. the Butt Block is very large because the metal tail piece must penetrate and be supported by it. The Cello tail piece is about 20 inches long and puts lots of torque on the body of the instrument. The head block must be sturdy because I will put bronze screws through it and into the neck. Both these pieces are curved on the outside to accept the glued ends of the sides that I bent yesterday. They will be nice and dry with their curves set when I take them out of the mold tomorrow.
And here is the back, glued together today. It is 3/4 inches thick and I plan to first contour the top of it to a nice curved back and then turn it over and hollow out the underside so that it becomes a tone producer. If it has the same effect on sound that the concave backs of the Pinecone ukes produce it soul be a big help. This back will be a lot of work -hope it is worth the effort.
