WORKED IN THE SHOP for a bit this morning and then went to the Farmers Market for lunch. found this cute young ukes doing her best.
Then I ran into this banjo player- Wow he was beating it out!
Then it was back to the workshop for a productive afternoon. I sawed up some scrap Honduran Mahogany left over from neck blanks and made fifteen tenor butt blocks. Nice to have little parts pre-made and ready to go.
Here are three of them glued to the Sound Boards.
The back side is carefully curved on the sander to match the planned curve of the instrument seen in the pencil line. Be sure you leave room for the sides.that glue to the butt block.
It sure seems that this build is going fast. Today I also glued center seam strips of veneer on the seam of the backs. This is very thin veneer of ebony or maple. The grain of the veneer crosses the seam joint strengthening it. It is so thin it will not effect the sound. I also thinned the sides to .075 and trimmed them to proper shape. The fretboards were done in a batch of ten a couple of months ago, so they only need sawing to final shape. I guess the next step is bending the sides- always and anxious time. Wish me luck.