Starting on the Back - the Back Reinforcement

After what seems like forever I am finally ready to work on the back. Like the front the back requires bracing and the bracing needs to be let into the sides. What should make this a little easier is all the bracings are perpendicular to the center line so I won't have to account for the same extreme angles the x braces created on the top.And I'm past the steepest part of the learing curve on constructing bracing (so he says...).

I did a layout line down the center of the back - now I know why white pencils are a good idea for rosewood. I'll have to get some. Then I drew a light line down the center of each of the three center strip pieces. I did a practice glue and clamp up...



... and then let it rip. As Ken suggested I taped the center strip sections down so they didn't slip while clamping and I found a piece of poplar the  exact length of the back to use as a caul.

After the standard amount of dry time I removed the clamps and tape. One of the things you need to do for the back to nest correctly to the rim is to trim away the area that will be covered by the neck and heel blocks. Its pretty quick work with a pull saw and chisel.

Next is to trim out sections of the center reinforcement to allow the bracing to pass through. A nice snug fit of the bracing to the reinforcement is a show of good craftmanship. Following Ken's directlion I made a little jig that stradles the center strip and allows for a perfect perpendicular.cut with the pull saw. A couple of minutes of cutting and chiseling the back was reinforced and I was ready for the braces.