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The first step is to glue together a bookmatched set of spruce pieces. I don't yet own the jointer required to make this seam correctly, but luckily a friend's father graciously allowed me some time on his. |
| Here it is, ready to start. I've cut a rough outline ot the shape from the blanks I glued together, and marked off some grids to help me position templates that will tell me when I've carved deep enough. What you see here will be the underside of the top when all is done. The tool positioned on top is a finger plane, and I can't imagine trying todo this without it. This was easier than I thought it would be. |  |
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I just love this picture (from the digital camera again). It shows my early progress at carving the top. This was a great experience. It really made me feel like an artist, taking a blank slab of wood, and creating the underside of the top. I hope I'm as successful with the topside... |
| I've just started carving the top side of the top here. In about four hours time I had the shape complete. Deciding when it's thin enough is going to be difficult. |  |
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This picture shows the top sitting on the sides, still in their bending jig. Next is glueing them together. |
| Glueing means clamps. Lots of clamps. I didn't have enough. A piece of masonite helps spread the load, but mostly you need clamps. |  |
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Here's the top glued to the sides. Next is trimming the excess off of the top and tuning the top. So far so good... |
| This shot shows the tone bars glued in and shaped. The finger plane has been my most used tool. I'm really glad that I spent a few bucks and bought a nice one. | |
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This shot shows the neck and body being glued together. Cutting the notch for the neck was by far the most stressfull of all of the steps I've completed. |
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