The Top
Having finally finished the back it is time to move onto the top.
First job was to glue the two book-matched halves together as on the back and then levelling the assembly and marking and cutting out the outline.
After building two profile templates (one longitudinal and one transversal at the centre line) I power planed down to the rough centreline thickness and started with the thumb plane. I can’t believe how much easier the spruce is to work compared with the maple on the back. In just a couple of hours the shape is nearly there!
And then mark and cut the purfling slots before gluing in the purfling and cutting the channels.
Then shape the inside after drilling some guide holes.
Plate tuning of back and top is next before cutting f holes and fitting bass bar.
F-Holes
The f-holes were marked by pinning the plan to the back of the belly and pricking through with a knife before joining up the marks with a pencil and adjusting the shapes by eye.
The holes were then cut with undersized forstener bits and reamed out to the correct size (14mm and 18mm) with my peghole reamer and my endpin reamer.
F-holes then roughly cut out with a coping saw.
And then carved to size and matched using a very sharp knife and a scalpel. I undercut the holes so they were bigger on the inside than the outside.
Then I cut the vees and glued on the bass bar.
