Building a Mandocello - Page 9

2017-05-26

Installing the Fretboard

Now that that the veneer is on and the headstock looks nice and finished

It is time to put the fretboard (or is that fingerboard?) on. As I had put some dents in when clamping before (sanded out now), I used big chunks of foam between the neck and clamps.

Hmm, no picture of the neck when it was finished. It looks good. I have ordered a radius sanding block so I can radius the neck before I add frets. Well... I may do some finishing first.

Hey! who cut holes in my mandocello body?

Could be they are there for these:

I decided to do a more traditional kerfed lining for the bottom. The reason being that I could not think of a way to do the goop like I did for the top... Yes, I just thought of how I could have done both with the epoxy cove. Coat the back with wax paper and clamp it on. Apply the epoxy cove to the back which will stick to the side but not the back. After it has set, remove the back and the wax paper. Then apply the front as I did and then just glue the back to the ready formed cove. Oh well, next time.

So here is the kerfed lining going on. These first two were hand cut from scraps.

Then I made some more with the Radial Arm Saw. The top piece is what the bottom two pieces came from. (how do you like the fankenstool?) The reason for kerfing the lining is that it leaves the width for gluing at the top while being flexible enough to fit the curves of the body. They can also be done as individual pieces placed side by side as was done some hundreds of years ago but this is much easier to make, line up and glue.

Gluing the lining on. The white clothes pins are really strong, I got them from SuperStore. The blue ones are not so good. I ended up switching them out for the cheap wooden ones. The lining has to be higher than the side and sanded down to the angle the back fits on because the back is arched. The arch is constant but the width is not. Therefore, the angle that the back touches the sides varies and can not be precut. Also, because the width varies the way it does and the lining is straight, It naturally sticks up more in the middle anyway. (one more thing the goop cove would have saved)

The next thing will be to sand down the lining. Then add braces to the back... I guess I should have been working on those already :)

Don't forget to take a look at the Trekker to see how that is progressing. (the kerfed lining came from scraps from the Trekker)

See you all next time...