The Weekend's Progress

So things are moving along, the back braces are carved on the tenor and the back is not glued on the sides. All the top braces are glued on and ready to finish voicing the top.

The bindings are bent and since I had the side bender set up the parlour guitar's sides and bindings are bent as well...

Using a go-bar deck to clamp some of the
top bracing

Back now on the sides

Top and back together

The parlour's sides resting in the form

Bracing the Back

So the braces for the back are cut and sanded to a 15 foot radius then rough shaped on the band saw.

Then glued on in a go-bar deck..

Ready for final shaping and a quick voicing of the back.

Bracing and Voicing the Top

THis will be the first time I have voiced a ladder braced top. I went about it the same way as I would for a X braced top. Tapping and reducing the braces until I got a "musical" tone I liked out of the top. With ladder braces this is a pretty easy process.

I did modify the braces slightly from the plans, I upper most brace is heavier and the lower most was rotated to a vertical orientation instead of the horizontal called for on the original plan.. I'm hoping this will give the top a longer life, some of those old guitars sounded good but were a bit under built..

using a go-bar deck & radius dish to clamp the braces

rough braces glued on

Finished voicing, braces at their final shape

Back Braces

The back braces are now glued to the back, they are first pre-radiused in a radius dish. For this guitar I used a 15' radius.. The Braces are then glued in using a go-bard deck and radius dish to clamp them to the back.. This forces the back to a 15' radius.