Cello Week 5 – The Top

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.

The spruce top after glueing the two halves
The spruce top after glueing the two halves

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!

Rough forming the top
Rough forming the top
Top - Nearly there
Top – Nearly there

And then mark and cut the purfling slots before gluing in the purfling and cutting the channels.

Channels marked out with purfling cutter. Corners have to be finished by hand.
Purfling slot marked out with purfling cutter. Corners have to be finished by hand.
Purfling slot cut
Purfling slot cut
Purfling in and channels roughly cut
Purfling in and channels roughly cut

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then shape the inside after drilling some guide holes.

Guide holes drilled to give correct thickness profile
Guide holes drilled to give correct thickness profile
Roughed out
Roughed out

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.

Marking out the f-holes on the back of the top
Marking out the f-holes on the back of the top

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.

Holes drilles with a forstner bit and opened out to correct diameter using tapered reamers
Holes drilles with a forstner bit and opened out to correct diameter using tapered reamers

F-holes then roughly cut out with a coping saw.

F-holes roughly sawn out with a coping saw
F-holes roughly sawn 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.

The finished f-holes
The finished f-holes before cutting the vees

Then I cut the vees and glued on the bass bar.

Finished f-holes
Finished f-holes
Bass bar glued in
Bass bar glued in

 

 

 

 

 

 

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