Soundboard Final Touches

The ends of the braces need to be supported so they don’t pop loose–I have seen this happen on some guitars where the braces weren’t supported.   I will use the same technique with this guitar as I do with my classical guitars.  In the picture below I am shaping little spruce supports on a belt sander after roughly cutting them with a bandsaw.  I lose a lot of pieces of fingernails and sometimes skin in this process.  I haven’t found an acceptable alternative to this way of shaping the supports, so it has become an acceptable risk for me.  Besides, it’s one of my better excuses for not being much of a guitar player: I can’t always be sure I’ll have enough nail or skin to play.

After the feet are shaped they are glued in place.  They are attached to both to the end of the brace and the side of the guitar.  Cam clamps keep them from slipping until the glue sets.

Here is how the inside of the top looks with all of the feet glued in:

The last thing I do is fill in any gaps in the kerfed lining where it was chiseled away to make room for the braces.  I cut little pieces of the same lining material and glue them in place to accomplish this.  It probably doesn’t make any difference to the overall strength of the guitar, I just think it looks better.

So now I am finished with the top and will turn my attention to the back of the guitar.