Moving Along with the Body

So, kerfing is glued in and some laminated vertical bracing is glued in, now ready to be radiused and have the back then top glued on.

Since this is a bit thicker body I was thinking of doing and arm bevel but I've got enough new things going on with this build so maybe next time.

End Blocks & Kerfing

Now the end blocks are glued on, since the mortise is pre-cut in the neck block alignment needs to be precise.

After that the kerfing can be installed, and that is now half done.

I also tried come of these as clamps on the kerfing works good with lots of clamping pressure. Not too expensive..

Sides & Binding Bent

Ok so the sides and bindings are now bent and ready for the end block & tail block which are also ready..

Bending the sides

Routing the mortise in the neck or end block

Bent sides with the tail and end blocks sitting there waiting

Back & Sides

The Back now gets jointed and glued up then thicknessed and the sides get thicknessed ready for the next step bending..

waiting for glue to dry

 Once the top is at the correct thickness it too is cut to rough shape..

top, bottom & sides waiting to go together.

Top and Final Work on the Soundhole

Next step is to thickness the top and then cut out the soundhole, the soundhole is also bound in BW Purfling.. Turned out pretty good..

The aftermath of planing the top to thickness

Soundhole cut and bound

Completed

Closeup

After that the top gets cut to rough size..

Finishing the Rosette

I was trying to decide if i would leave the rosette without any purfling or perhaps ad some BW purfling.. in the end i decided to use fine lined 1/32" BWB purfling which I think worked out well.

Next is planing the soundboard down to thickness..

I'm quite happy with the fit of this rosette

Mandocello Build Started

So Summer jobs are done and it is time to get started on building this Mandocello.. My order of building is sort of whatever I feel like doing that day..

So I've got a bunch of wood lets see what we can make out of it...

We have Espave for the neck, a first for me, Sitka Spruce for the top, Oregon Myrtle for the back and sides and  Rose wood for the fingerboard and Bridge, trim is also going to be Rosewood

So lets start with the top..

Jointed and glued up

And a top needs a rosette, this one is made out of scarps, Rosewood,  Koa, Ebony and some Maple I think...

So all glued up and then cut to shape using a Dremel tool in a Bishop Cochran base, which works very well for this..

The green tape is just extra it is actually held down with double sided tape

All done

Now to route the matching pocket in the soundboard..

And glue in...