Day 14

Ok.  So both of my sides are bent.  Today I'll be bending some basswood linings, trimming the sides, and begin joining them.  I'll also work on my bridge a bit more.

The bridge work I did today consisted of filing, mostly.  I used a few different types of files to flush up the edges of the bone with the sides of the Indian rosewood tie block.  After everything was flush on all edges, I used the files to soften/round the outer edges of the bone.  Doing this makes the finished result look nicer, and it also reduces the chances of any chipping occurring on the sharp outer edges of the bone.  I refinished the whole thing over with a milling file, and then with two different grades of abrasive pads.  Boom.

Next I began getting my tail block ready for gluing the sides together.  The piece was a small flat block of mahogany.  Before gluing, I had to give the surface that was to be glued a slight camber, as the bottom of the guitar, where the sides join, would not be flat, but would have a very slight curve.  I took the piece of mahogany and gave it the desired effect with sandpaper, doing one side of the block, at a time.  The centre of the block would stay the same, but each of its edges would have to be reduced very slightly, and the transition between the reduction and the centre of the block would have to be made fluid, to properly fit the curve.

Ned put some strips of basswood in the bathtub for me, to let them soak in preparation for bending them.  After they sat for a half hour or so, I began bending them.  He briefed me on their qualities and characteristics, and told me what would happen when I bent them.  Basswood is much softer than Indian rosewood, so I would have to be a bit more gentle on them.  He also let me know that a sort of crumpling effect would take place when bending them, as the surface touching the heating peg would sort of fold in on itself, while the outer edge would stretch.  I began bending, and got the feel for the wood.  I noticed quickly the effect he spoke of, and learned how to sort of blend the crumples together, to make the interior smooth.  I got two linings bent, fitting them to the inside curve of the already bent sides, as this is where they would be glued.  There would be four, total.

After getting two of them done, Ned said it would be best for me to begin cutting my sides, getting them ready to glue together- so I did.  I fit them properly in the template/jig that he had built, and began marking lines where I was to cut.  Essentially, the sides were longer than they needed to be, so I had to trim a bit off of each end.  The bottoms would sit flush together, whereas the tops would fit into the heel block, so they were cut shorter, just shy of the halfway/centre point of the guitar.  I used a square to mark lines on all four sides, fetched a cutting block, clamps, and the pull-cut saw, and began cutting.  

I clamped the sides back into the jig once I was done, and inspected the fit.  Not bad at all!  I took them back out, and got ready to clamp the sides together, with the tail block on the interior wall.  I did a dry clamp, first, to make sure everything was flush.  Four standard clamps were used.  I applied glue to the tail block, set it in place, and put a small sheet of wax paper on the exterior seam of the sides.  I then applied the clamps, after fitting the sides on.  I saw a good bit of glue squeeze-out.  Good stuff.  I used a cotton ball to remove some of the squeeze-out, to make it easier on me, once the glue was dry, as it would've been a bit

more difficult scraping the dried glue off with a wood scraper, on a surface that has a slight curve.  Hard to explain, but yeah.  I set the clamped assembly aside, to let it dry.  I believe that was essentially it, for the day.  Next time, I will be bending the other linings, and gluing the top of the sides into the heel block... or so I think.  Can't wait!

Also- I will be out of town for work, next week, so I will not be updating the blog until the week after next.  Unfortunate...