Acoustic Construction Lab - Week 4

 With the kerfing glued to the ribs, I sanded the radius into the top and bottom of the sides. I notched the ribs for the bracing and fit the top to the body. I drilled holes in the side of my work board and placed screws staggered every 1 inch around the entire edge.

 For clamping pressure while gluing the top, I used 45 feet of bungee cord and laced it back and forth around the screws firmly. The top was glued with Titebond and allowed a few hours to set before removing the bungee. Once dry, I routed the dovetail pocket into the neck block. I notched the ribs for the back bracing and fit the back, repeating the same process with the bungee to glue it in place.

 With the body now completely constructed, I used a router to flush trim the top and back to the sides. I sanded the ribs flat and square in preparation for planing the purfling and binding. 

 I decided to use wooden rope purfling for the guitar top, with a wooden 4 ply black and white purfling strip for the back. This was all bound with plastic tortoise shell binding. I used a router to cut the purfling groove into the top, and cut the the binding groove into the side with a second cut. I flipped the guitar over and repeated the process for the back. 

 To attach the binding, I started by shaping the purfling strips using a bending iron. Since the purfling is wooden, I used Titebond to glue it in place and stretched strapping tape over the edges for clamping pressure. After the top and back purflings were set, I used an acrylic cement to glue the plastic binding. 

 I spent Friday scraping and sanding the binding to bring it flush with the top, back and sides. I started to layout my fingerboard on the blueprint, and prepared the ebony board to thickness. Another week of construction complete, next I will be building a neck and fitting the dovetail. 

- Justin Ness