Week 6 - Attaching the sides to the soundboard.

1st make sure that the neck and body are flush, so the fret board does not have any gaps when it is dry fitted to the neck. Sand until flush.

Take out a form jig which will help clamp the sides down to the soundboard.









Take the sides out of the holding jig, which held the sides in place for 1 week after they were bent.

Headstock veneer

When gluing the headstock veneer to headstock, leave some room to be creative.

Find the center of the headstock and line up with the center of the veneer. Make the veneer larger then the headstock so you can trim the excess. Cut a 15 degree angle at the base where the veneer meets the nut line. This will ensure that the seam is flush.

Tone bars and bracings

When gluing the tone bars and bracings, use go bars under a go deck so the pressure is displaced evenly across each piece. Use a cut straw to clean up any excess Tight bond glue after appling the go bars.

Week 1 - Sound hole Inlays

Once you locate the center of your soundhole, drill a 1/16 hole, and route a 3" groove around the center point.

Use a router with a guidepin.

Week 1 - Back and soundboard

Book matching the sound board and back gives the instrument symetry and character. Off set the pieces when gluing so you can find the center line during the building process.

Mark your points for the back braces and tone bars. 

Week 1 - Design, template, and materials

Decide on a design. Make a template. Book match and glue soundboard and back, line up sides. Transfer template to soundbaord and back. Cut out basic form and leave about a 1/4" overhang from your actual template line.

Choose your building material.

1) Soundboard
2) Sides
3) Back
4) Neck
5) Fret board
6) bracing
7) Tone bars

Jigs