It is always a good day when the backs are glued on and the ukuleles are "boxed". Today was that day for #142 and #143. Here was the process.
First the back surfaces were leveled by sanding them over a huge piece of 80 grit sandpaper resting on a flat surface. Then the back was clamped in place and the location of its braces carefully marked on the body.
 |  |
With a small saw, tiny cuts are made and then notches are carved out to receive the back braces.
glue is then applied to the surface of the tentelones and the back is clamped into place.
glue is then applied to the surface of the tentelones and the back is clamped into place.
Here it is clamped up tight. I takes a couple of hours for the glue to set up before the next step, trimming the edges .
The edges are trimmed close to the body with the router. Blue tape is placed around the body for the router wheel to ride and and extend the cutter a tiny bit away from the body. the uncut edge is easily sanded away. this is done to assure that the cutter will not cut into the body.
The next job is the scary one. I must cut a slot all around each edge to accept the binding. I must also decide on which binding to use on these curly maple bodies. Which would you choose?
