I have been working on the bindings and purfling most of the day and I still have two pieces to attach. Each instrument has four pieces of binding to attach, and I glue them on one at a time, waiting for the glue on each to set up for an hour or more. that makes for a slow and painstaking joy-but it is almost done now.
The clamp is to hold the two ends of the binding close to the instrument to assure a gap free binding. There is too much spring-back at the ends of the binding for the tape to hold the ends perfectly tight to the sides as the glue sets.
After the glue sets, then I can begin to fair down the rough edges of this installation. I use a small Ibex plain that cuts these exquisite curls. Two more to glue on in the morning and this tedious part of the build will be done.