Day 17: Roughing Out the Body Block Sides

When I planed the bridge pickup box down, I managed to knock one of the sides free, which tells me I didn't initially apply enough hide glue. The good news: I got the side re-glued. The even better news: I started working on roughly drawing up the body block side contours. I accomplished this by drawing straight lines 1cm in on the sides and 2cm in from the top and bottom. How I will draw out the contours remains to be seen - I'm hoping I find some creative way to use something in the shop to create a nice, swooping curve that will complement the faux body.

Speaking of the faux body, I've decided to use thin strips of black walnut about 3" or so wide. The thing is, I've not yet run a 240v power outlet for my new Laguna 14" SUV bandsaw I purchased for resawing wood. I'm hoping to get it going this weekend. When I do, I'll cut up the walnut and take it from there.

Back to the photo. Along with major tasks come several minor tasks I've not yet considered. For instance, drilling out the peg holes in the pegbox at the top of the neck is something I need to do before mounting the fingerboard. A friend, Darrel Wallen, loaned me a couple cylindrical reamers that should do the trick just fine. First, I'll put one in the drill press and get the holes started. Then, I'll finish up manually so I don't over-drill the holes. That would be a point from which there is no return, so that ain't gonna happen.

I also need to start thinking about how I'm going to mount the neck securly to the body block. This is not something I considered before cutting the neck to length. In hindsight, I sure with I would have left a little extra to accommodate a more secure way to mount the neck. The main issue with this is mounting it in a way that not only keeps the neck attached to the body, but also keeps is from rotating from string tension and playing. I'm thinking an oddly-shaped (triangular or square) dowel will do the trick. Chalk this one up to inexperience for sure.

Until next time...

Day 16: Tracing the Faux Body

Before shaping the body block, I decided to go ahead and map out the faux body. The faux body is necessary for a couple of reasons. First, the cello player rests the cello againt their upper body, which I believe will require an extension on the back of the body block. Second, the cello player grips the lower bout with his/her legs as a means of stabilizing the instrument while playing. My plan is to bend some nice flamed maple I picked up at Home Depot after ripping it to 1/2" thickness. I'm frankly not sure it will bend well, but we'll see. I can always substitute another light wood if necessary.

The first step in the process was to line out the measurements for the upper and lower body thicknesses. The body block is 135mm wide and I need the top to be 335mm and the bottom 425mm. These measurements are based on the instrument I borrowed briefly from a friend, Darrell Wallen, who was gracious enough to loan her to me for a few days of measuring fun. And, yes, I prefer metric at all times (old habits from my archaeology days).

Once I got the measurements solid and locked into place with a little painter's tape, I broke out two sheets of parchment  paper from the kitchen to do a some tracing. Yeah, the parchment paper I use for cooking. I want the upper and lower bouts to be graceful, even if the upper one won't be used for much, and they both need to be stable. This is my first crack:

It then realized that the lower one may be a little too long, not offering enough stability, so I put the top one through.

At first, I thought I might remove the bottom piece that runs through the top, but, in thinking more about it today, it might look nice to leave the X and it would provide additional stability. Tonight, I'll ask my in-house artistic expert (my wife) what she thinks. I'll have this question resolved tonight and plan on trying out some bending over the weekend.

Until next time...

Day 15: A New Bridge Box Frame

Once I got the bridge box situated, I decided to make a nicer frame using 45-degree angles for the corners. The "old" frame just used square angles and I want this to be a piece I'm proud of, so it's 45 degrees all around. Before I could do this, I needed a way to cut the small pieces. I had created a small cut miter box a while back, which I used for the bridge box, so I went ahead and cut a 45-degree angle into it.

I call it the Molnar Miter - the only one in existence. Fortunately, it worked quite well, so I cut the piecces for the frame.

I won't glue them up quite yet, as the body and the box itself still need some shaping/sanding/scraping work. I will also be bending the faux body this weekend using some nice flamed maple pieces I found at Home Depot that should work just fine.

Until next time...