Day 7

Using the chisel to scallop the edge of a harmonic brace

It just so happened I had another Friday off.  I like going to work on the guitar on Fridays, because Ned and I always have a beer or two at the end of the day- it's nice.  Today, I knew I'd be finishing up my soundboard, and starting on something else, which I initially thought was going to be the neck.  I was wrong.

I began by clamping down the soundboard, and gathering the necessary tools for the next bit of work.  This meant fetching the small plane, the small metal rule, the medium-sized chisel, and a couple strips of painter's tape.  I only had to shape another brace or two, and scallop maybe a half-dozen, at the most.  I started chiseling away.  I used the chisel to shape the remainder of the braces, simply because a plane wouldn't be able to fit in the small spaces where braces were close to each other.  I found the chisel much to my liking, and told this to Ned- that I enjoyed using it more than the plane, for shaping.  I think this was mostly because the chisel is a bit more primitive than the plane- you can see the exact point where your piece of metal is contacting the wood, whereas the plane has a body in which your blade is embedded in, and the contact point is thus obscured from view.  Another appealing aspect is that there is no adjusting of the actual tool to be done, with a chisel, unless of course you need to refinish the edge.  A plane would require adjusting the depth and pitch of the blade- more variables to consider.  I become the adjustment, when I use the chisel.  Ned was glad to hear that I favoured the chisel- he felt that a certain set of qualities was being instilled into me.

An almost final picture of the braces- 2 left to be applied, and 2 edges left to be scalloped.

Clamping the final braces- at last!

Once I finished my shaping and scalloping, I glued two additional braces- these were the final pieces of the soundboard.  These ones didn't need to be shaped, vertically, or scalloped- they were merely flat pieces of spruce, only about 2 - 2.5mm thick, and maybe 1cm wide, that went on either side of the soundboard.  I obtained these pieces from the remaining wood from a spruce soundboard cutout that Ned had laying around- I measured and cut the two rectangular pieces, sanded both sides, and then went through the process of getting them to fit into their homes.  They were both to be seated between the two harmonic struts/braces, which are not parallel to each other- this meant that one edge of the brace would be perpendicular to its respective sides, while the bottom edge would have a slight angle, in order for it to fit flush against both of the harmonic braces.  This was a trial-and-error process, where I sanded an angle to the bottom edge of each brace, shimmying it along the inside of the braces, until it had the right angle and length to go where it was to be glued.  Once all was said and done, I grabbed some wood shims/blocks for clamping, applied the glue, and clamped them into place. 

At one point in the day, Ned showed me some tuners, online, made by a gentleman whom he had met- they were truly beautiful- and handcrafted (His work can be seen here - http://www.graftuners.com/home.html).  After taking a few minutes to check them all out, I asked Ned about my tuners, and he gladly pulled them out to show me.  I saw them up close, studied them, and was pleased.  They were very sharp looking.  Golden-coloured metal plates, and dark ebony knobs.  I can't recall the brand of them, but I will go into further depth on them, once I get to the end of my guitar-building journey.

After lunch, I removed the clamps from the last two braces, and scraped away the excess glue around the two final braces.  Once I finished, I took a look at my work- the soundboard was finally completed.  It was time for the next step.

While I had previously thought that I would be
starting on the neck of my guitar, next, I instead began working on the sides.  The sides, as I have mentioned before, are Indian rosewood, just as the back is.  I pulled out the old trusty wood scraper, and started.  Ned suggested that I decide which side of the side planks would be the exterior side- he suggested I started this decision-making process by scraping the wax off of the ends of the planks, to examine the grain from the side.  I did this to both pieces, and the grain looked very consistent.  Since I was unable to make a decision in this manner, I scraped a small section of the wood away until the grain was revealed- I could barely make out the grain, before, due to the rough saw marks and splinters of wood sticking out.  I made my decision, and Ned marked which side was to be dressed, and which was to be thinned. 

I began the dressing process, but not before Ned trimmed a bit of length off of the long side of the side planks, to reduce the amount of scraping to be done.  I then started scraping.  I continued this process throughout the afternoon, and I felt a great deal of improvement, in my scraping technique.  Ned, of course, gave me pointers, here and there, and by the end of the day, he had noticed a great deal of improvement in my technique, as had I.  Of this, I was proud.  This was what the remainder of my afternoon was spent doing.

Before & after scraping/dressing

Before the day came to an end, we split two pints.  The previous day, I went for a trip to Premier Wines, located in Halifax- they carry a broad selection of crafted spirits- much more satisfactory than the local NSLC chains.  I decided to bring a bottle of Propeller's Double IPA, and a bottle of North Coast Brewing Company's Brother Thelonious.  I found it appropriate to get the latter beer, since Ned had a bit of history with jazz, and the fact that the beer was music-related, in general, caught my attention.  We started with the Brother Thelonious, sipped away at that, and then moved on to the Propeller- It was a great way to finish the day.

I finished dressing my sides- my next session will include the thinning and bending of them!  That's pretty exciting... the curves are being made- and the shape of the guitar is coming together!  It's great! 

A handful of Indian rosewood shavings

Until next time...  Thanks for reading!