Starting the back

So I began working on the back of this guitar when I started working on the top. That is, I glued up the two bookmatched sides in order to set up the back plate. However, since that time, it was just set aside awaiting its time to shine. During the glue up phase of the neck, I was able to surface the wood, so that it would be set to work with. I left this a little proud because I knew that there was going to be a decorative strip added into the back, called the backstrip. There is no real reason for this piece of wood to be added. Other than the fact that it looks nice. Some people leave it off altogether. However, for this guitar, I thought it would be a good addition. You can see in the photo to the right that the back is surfaced and the piece of Indian rosewood is laid on top. It has some white veneer on each side, to offset it from the Koa.

The first thing to do is to cut a 1/4" channel where the strip will be inlaid. This is done with a router. We are very careful not to let the router wonder. Additionally, we had to make sure that the router depth was correct, so that we would not completely cut through the back.

First, I marked a center line on the back, and then placed a piece of plywood on the back using double stick tape. I carefully place this down so that we offset the router bit perfectly. One pass with the router and we are ready for glue up. We have to be very careful with the back at this time, as there is a possibility of the back breaking from having the channel added to it.

To glue this up, we take some white glue, and put it in the channel. I spread the glue around the channel and then place the strip into the wood. We put as much pressure with our fingers as possible. We could use the go-deck at this time if we wanted. But since the strip fit perfectly, there was no need to do this.

After we let this sit for a few hours, so the glue dries. I am ready to resurface the back again. First, I use a hand plane and take some shavings off the rosewood. Once it is pretty close to flush, I start using a sanding block to take away the rest of the material and also some of the excess glue that we have on it. Finally, the last piece is to bring it back to the drum sander and get it to final thickness.

When I was done, I put some napthla on the back just to see what it would look like when it is finished. As you can see the curly grain comes out and the rosewood looks really nice against the Koa. This piece of Koa has a lot more figure than i originally had thought. I am very excited to see what it looks like completed.

The next step will be to start bracing the back. We will move on to that step in the next week or so.