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After a little break I'm back. Next the sides. I made a bending iron from some 30mm pipe and a blow torch. Spent an interesting afternoon bending the sides - a real "lesson learner"! I wasn't too happy with the results though - I reckon a 60 to 70mm pipe would of been a much better size. My sides came out a little "crinkled". So I decided to make a former and laminate the sided in my vacuum press. I used six layers of veneer to get the correct thickness needed for the sides. Apply glue (Wudcare 5 minute pva, specifically for laminating) use a roller to quickly spread it evenly, add another veneer and more glue. |
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| With all the veneers glued together, tape them to one end of the former, place them in the bag and carefully seal it. Turn on the vacuum pump and hold the veneers carefully in place as the bag shrinks around the former. Then leave for 15 minutes. |
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| And we get this - much smoother than my pipe bent sides! You can
see the former clearly in this picture - it is made from 2 inch
poplar glued together and shaped. I then added a coat of filler on
the top edges and sanded it smooth. Right - now I repeated the whole thing to make the second side. |
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| With the other side complete I marked out the width of the side
(three inches) and then cut it to size on the bandsaw. A quick
clean-up with sandpaper on a long plank and it's starting to look
like a guitar.
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| The sides needed to be profiled with a taper towards the nut. This was marked out and cut on the bandsaw. Here you can see the two sides in place, checking the fit. |
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| Then I glued in the tail block. The rear is tapered to match the curve of the sides. Both sides get glued to this at the bottom to give strength. |
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| The Linings. I made kerfed linings from mahogany, profiling them with a block plane and then kerfing them on the band saw with a mitre gauge and stop block. Mark out the location of the braces on the sides and then glue and clamp sections of lining around the top. |
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