Just add neck... and some other things

One milestone has been achieved, as I got to put on the first spit coat of shellac today.

After gluing the bindings, I use my (well, my father's) hand held sander with 100 grit paper to level the bindings to the top, back and sides. Compared to scraper or hand sanding, this really speeds things up. I machine sand down to 240 grit and then switch to hand sanding, using 240-320-400-600-800grit papers. Sanding light colored spruce top and maple bindings simultaneously with the very color contaminant cocobolo takes a certain work procedure. With fresh paper, first top and bindings, then the back and sides, then with another fresh paper, the bindings again. I used a shoe brush and a dry cotton rag to get rid of the cocobolo dust.

When the sanding is done, it's time to cover up the easily stained parts with a few layers of shellac. This keep the colors in their proper places. A lot of filling pores and gaps ahead, but looking good already!

Binding & bevel

I've had some intensive nights, installing the purfling, binding and most of all, the Ryan style bevel topping.

Here the end wedge is being glued down

This ought to be covered...

...with this

Some moisture and heat applied

A serious amount of epoxy "under the hood",  held together
with masking tape and bicycle tire rubber band

What you can't see here is all the work it took to shape the bevel topping to exactly match the shape of the radiused and odd-shaped bevel area. I bent the topping with the soldering iron rig, put it in place, traced the edges to the underside of the topping and then carved and sanded it to perfectly fit the cocobolo side. The top edge I butt airtightly against the herringbone trim, and when the glue had settled, planed and sanded down the excess. For my first bevel, I'd say it's a good match. But it surely takes quite some extra time and effort to get accomplished!

Close picture of THE masking tape

Some more gluing with the ends

I glued in the bevel side binding in two pieces. The clamps are used to
 hold the binding down in the most critical places.
The ends were joined with a scarf joint.

The bevel could be a bit closer to the end, but still
does it's job, with my arm at least

Herringbone purfling

Glued down the herringbone top purfling last night and today. It was a bit trickier than usually, for I had to figure out the bevel area. I ended up cutting the ledge for the purfling with my binding/purfling tool that you got to see in action in the previous post. The bevel area I cut by hand, using a sharp micro chisel and knife.

I bend the herringbone using a simple setup: an old soldering iron clamped to the table, and a piece of metal tube around the shank as a heat sink and working surface. The iron itself is too hot to work with, but the tube nicely tames the heat a bit.

For gluing down the binding, I absolutely recommend using the BLUE, weatherproof masking tape.

Gluing the back

The back is now attached to the sides and the box closed

The pencil markings are gone and fit should be perfect! I notch the sides
 to accommodate the back braces. This way, the bracing never comes loose.
On the other hand, If id does come loose, it's a bit trickier to re-glue.
But there are tools for that too, so not to worry...

A little message, should somebody ever open the box again.
The little squares are there to reinforce the center seam
agains any splitting.

Applying the glue with a very sophisticated high tech
tool I got from my parents some 35 years ago.
The end block is angled so that the gluing surface is approximately
 the same as that of the kerfing's

Lots of clamps, but only gentle force, since everything fits
together like a fist in the eye (like we say in Finnish)

I cut the overhang of the top and back using my handy
 router setup. It's easy, fast and foolproof.
Below is a little video of the setup in practice.
The sound of the router is one of the nastiest in the industry...

Freshly trimmed back in the morning sun.
I wouldn't mind looking at it every day.

The top before the bevel is trimmed

...and the still fuzzy bevel area in detail. There will be flamed maple
binding extension to cover the insides here. The top was trimmed
using traditional and oh, so sharp knife.

By the way, working with cocobolo you may get hurt. Cocobolo sawdust in my eye is the only explanation I could come up with, as I woke up with black and swollen eye. Shouldn't have spoken about the fist in the eye in the first place. This punch got in!

Soundport and preparations

During the summer I've been busy with mostly other things than luthiery. But a little has been done in that realm too. In June, I cut the soundport and in August started the preparations for attaching the back to the guitar. Guess that's something at least.

I start by taping the side and eyeballing the size,
shape and placement of the port.
Some measuring was involved as well, if I recall it right.
 Remember not to cut where you glued the side reinforcement braces!

The hole roughed out with a dremel tool.

...and further refined with a file and round sanding stick

I trimmed the port with a black-white wooden purfling,
that had to be jointed in two places to fit the curve of the side

Done! Hope Jouni likes eggs...

The sides are matched to the curvature of the back
by sanding on the same concave disc that the back bracing was glued on.
First, I mark the whole contact surface of the sides and blocks with a pen...

...then I sand until all the markings are gone