Prior to installing the kerfing you also have to attach some leveling blocks to the master mold to hold the rims in the correct position. I think you'll get the idea from the pictures. The blocks are installed in one position when you're working on the sound board and removed and installed in another position when you are working on the bottom.
The kit provides cedar strips already kerfed (a slice in the wood that goes about half way through). These need to be pre-bent to the shape of the body so they don't break when installed. To reverse bend the kerfing you start by wetting the cedar and then wrapping it in tin foil. Let it sit a few minutes to flex up. Then wrap the strip to the outside of the guitar rim, clamp it tight and let it sit. I did this late one night so it sat overnight. You not only have to clamp it tight but you also have to clamp it continuously along its length, like:
I used every small clamp I owned on just one section of the kerfing. At half a side at a time it would take way too long to complete this step. Also, despite increasing the amount of time the strips were wrapped in foil they were breaking on me. So, I knew that clothespins are a perfectly adequate clamp for this purpose I just hadn't been able to find them over the last week or so. I finally tracked down a couple of packages at Ace hardware. I used the low setting on my heat gun to facilitate the bending process:
and using the clothespins (with regular clamps on some of the more stressful bend areas) I was in business.
Once the kerfing has molded to the guitar shape they are installed inside the rim with some yellow glue and all those clamps.
Once the kerfing has set you install the side reinforcements. Simple straight forward operation. Take a caliper, measure the spacing betweenn the kerf lining, transfer the measurement to the reinforcing strip, cut, glue and clamp. The recommended spacing is 3".
clamped up you get this:
that rosewood looks pretty sweet, doesn't it?
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