Hello there, my fellow artisans and handcrafts enthusiasts!

Welcome back to another entry on this build. It is amazing that we are not only on the verge on the assembly process, but also having this one coming out during the last day of 2025. It has been quite a journey for the past 5 years since I started posting things on this blog and this type of content has been the one that has worked the best. So thank you for your support and comments.

The last time we saw this one we had just finished getting the strum guard on the sound board and we need to finish some things on the back to start the whole assembly process. Without further a due, let's get to it!

Bars on the back

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With the sound board ready to be glued to the neck, we can do the same work on the back by adding the bars and then shaping them. To start, we need to make the cut for the lower bar and then use the chisel to remove the material of the reinforcement to make room for the bar. Now we use the hand plane and sandpaper to make the shape of the top portion of this reinforcement more round.

Once we have done the previous step, we need to make sure the bars fit to the glue them in place. Before gluing, we have to work on the finish of the bars. We are just going to pass them by the sanding board until we have removed all the marks and other uneven spots. Then we can apply the glue and use the clamps to hold everything in place.

After we let this rest for enough time, we can shape the bars by removing material from the top. The rest of the work can be later as we are going to glue the sound board onto the neck.

On the mould and sides

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The part where these pieces get glued together is not on the photos as it takes a lot of effort and needs lots of precision. It is important to focus on that instead of wanting to get shot. When these pieces are glued together, we can start the assembly process. The first step is writing something on the reverse of the sound board as a sort of homage to the instrument and their owner. Then we proceed to get the parts onto the solera mould. We fix this in place with a central screw and some board. Then we add the angles around the curvature of the sound board.

As you can see, we have an extra piece that goes below the lower bout of the sound board. This is to make up for the difference in height on this part for having the strum guard on the upper bout.

And now we can work on the sides by removing material to make their surfaces smooth so we can start the process of bending them later. We just need to use the hand plane and a lot of elbow grease to get shavings off from each side of the pieces and them smooth them out using the card scraper and sandpaper. On the last part of this task, we place the sides on the slots we made on the neck, to make sure the thickness the one required to fit.

Bending and End Block

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Now comes the bending portion of the work. To start, we get the sides on water to soak and become more flexible. Then we just need to get our bender to the right temperature and start the process with a lot of patience. We do not want anything to crack or break. When we get really close to the shape we need, we can start checking all the shape with the drawing and the angles. We can also let the pieces rest fixed to the angles so they keep their shape.

However, there is a missing piece in this task, the end block. We forgot to make it and glue it to the sound board. So we are cutting a piece of cedar to correct this. We cut the piece. Mark the center line. Remove material from the sides to give it a curve-ish top face. Then we create a bevel on the lower part. Now we can finally glue it in place.

And with this last part, we are ready for the day while this block glues in place. On the next entry, we are going to glue the sides in place and also get started with the reinforcements that go in the inside of the instrument. Thanks a lot for reading! See you next time!

And Happy New Year to everyone!