Glueing and trimming (without a power router)

It was time to glue the back onto the soprano. After the braces were glued in I rubbed the whole assembly in the radius dish to get everything even. I chose to exaggerate the curve a bit so it’s more dramatic from end to end than it is from side to side. 

And the clamping strips. This setup works really well. Since it is a one piece back I didn’t bother with those small blocks to prevent slipping. No centre line to mess up this time. There are other advantages to one piece backs and soundboards of course, such as less work in preparing them and far better looks. 

The next day I started trimming the back to be flush with the rim. And what fun I had - a sharp Mora knife with its scandi-grind bevel takes an aggressive bite but lets me control the cut all the way through. 

Here it is on the alder reso, cutting off large sections in no time. 

And the pine reso. I mean, look at those curly chips. You see why this post devolved into what it became.