bracing and sanding

 I cut my back braces to fit around the back reinforcement seam and glued them up in the go-bar deck.

The back is sitting in the radius dish to support the curvature and the curved braces are fit into position and held tight by the fiberglass bars.

I worked on a couple other wood work projects while the glue set up and then set about sanding the plywood frame to match the radius dish curves.  This is necessary so the curved back plate and the surface it gets glued to will match and give a good bond.  Yes, leaving everything flat is much easier, but the radiused back "feels" so much better.  It also allows for the top/back plates to flatten rather than split as they shrink in the low humidity of winter.

Note the gap between the ply and the dish in the 1st pic and it's gone after sanding for 10-15 minutes.

Here is the side/neck assembly sitting on the plate.  Just checking the fit now.  I won't glue anything until I've braced and fit the front plate.  I sanded the ply for the front plate to a 25 foot radius (the back is an 8 foot radius), just don't want that much curve on the top.  The top needs to move, vibrate, and be driven by the strings kind of like a speaker cone.  The back needs to reflect the sound from the interior out the sound hole (which I haven't cut yet).

I also trimmed the excess on the headstock plate but alas, no picture today.

Brian