9/26/2004
Today I glued the maple top to the mahogany body. I didn't want the top to slide around while I clamped it up so I sank 3 wire brads into the mahogany. I selected three spots where I know I won't be routing later: the tip of the each horn and the extreme center bout. The idea is to tap the wire-brad in, cut it, then press the maple top into them so it won't slip. Here is a shot of the wire brad after I tapped it about 1/4".
9/26/2004
Next, I cut it placing the cutter on the mahogany. It leaves a pointing tip about 1/8" long.
9/26/2004
Next, I covered the top of the mahogany with Titebond and spread it around with some scrap wood. Make sure you get the entire surface.
9/26/2004
Then, working briskly, I turned over the mahogany on the maple top. I had previously drawn center lines on both parts so I could see the joints more clearly and align them. The alignment pins allow the mahogany to sit above the maple so you can position it. When you're aligned, just press the mahogany into the maple. The alignment pins will sink into the maple and the body won't move while clamping.
9/26/2004
The next step is to clamp. Make sure you get even pressure all around. I
sandwiched the mahogany and maple between large boards I had in my shop. Here's
how that looks. I'll let it sit for 24 - 48 hours before I remove the clamps.
NOTE: I ran into a small problem during the clamping. I noticed that a small
section near one of the horns was not seated properly. I decided to quickly pop
off all the clamps, run the body, with the top still on, to the band-saw, and
cut off as much excess as I could. This allowed me to get clamps set up closer
to that area and fix the problem.
9/27/2004
I removed the clamps and gave the maple a quick trim on the bandsaw. Here's what the top looks like on the mahogany. The spots on the top are from the clamps. When I had to fix the clamping issue yesterday, I removed the boards I was using as cauls. The spots are from the rubber cushions on the clamping surfaces. I hope I can sand them out.
9/27/2004
Before I trimmed the maple on the router table with a pattern-bit, I sanded some of the excess to within 1/16" or so of the mahogany on the spindle sander. I wanted to minimize the amount of wood the router bit had to cut through. Still, I had some burning. This will have to be sanded out on the spindle sander.
9/27/2004
After trimming the maple on the router table, I'm left with a decent indication of what the body will look like. Tomorrow, it will be back to the spindle sander and the extra-fine sanding drum (150 grit) to get the profile to it's final shape and dimension. Here are two different shots of the body now.
9/29/2004
After some more sanding with the random orbital sander and a 40 grit disc, the spots from the clamps are gone and the tear-out has been removed. This solves the major concerns I had with the maple top to this point. The flame, although difficult to see in these shots, is nice and even, I can clear-stain or color-stain the body as I'd hoped. Also, there was no problem with the maple top seating to the mahogany.
10/3/2004
The next task to complete for the body was some good old fashioned hand-sanding. I used an 80 grit belt from my belt sander and wrapped it around a wooden block. Sometimes, on curves, I just used the belt. The idea was to smooth over any "troughs" or "valleys" created by the drum sander. By the time I was done, I had a smooth, flowing profile all around the body. That was the main point of the process: To get the edges smooth to the touch. The face and back were also orbital sanded to 80 grit. You can really start to make out the grain in the maple and mahogany. This is the finished profile of the body. Later today, I'll hope to rough cut the neck blank.
And close up...
And close up...
And close up...
And here's a good shot of the face grain.
10/17/2004
Below is a picture of the body with the pick-ups, Wilkinson trem bridge and knobs laid out on it.
