Ready for polishing...

This week has been busy and I am glad that it's Saturday and I can relax a bit. Earlier this week I got John's guitar ready for finishing and the picture above shows it hanging up and waiting for a coat of shellac sealer. This stage is known as having the instrument 'in the white'; an expression that makes more sense when applied to violins, where the pale maple and spruce looks very white compared the richly varnished instrument.

The picture below shows the neck and heel after shaping was completed. These are the main tools I use to do that task. I still favour a wooden spokeshave for the main shaping. An age old design, this boxwood example is a joy to use and can remove wood quickly and accurately. The rosewood handled knife I made myself when I was a student in London and it is fantastic for carving the elegant sweep of the heel.
So now this guitar is ready for polishing (in fact I have already put the first coat on) and the Amazon rosewood is already beginning to look rather lovely. About a week a go fellow guitar maker Michael Gee phoned and one of the things we talked about was French polish. Michael is a fabulous maker who I was lucky enough to be taught by many years ago. I refer to polishing as a black art, and it really is one of those aspects of guitar making that can have you pulling your hair out on occasions. I recently heard someone say that you never properly finish French polishing a guitar;there just comes a point where you give up!

Purfling and binding

With the main body of John's guitar together, it has been time to move onto the purfling and binding. The picture above shows all the strips laid out on the bench. The cocobolo bindings are all cut from the same board and are in sequence, so the grain follows from one to another. It is a small detail that is missed by many, but gives me a quiet satisfaction.
The channel for the purfling is cut first and the veneer strips are glued in and held in place with pins. Then the second channel for the binding is cut and the binding is bent and fitted. I like to use cloth tape to hold the binding in place whilst gluing; it is one of those tasks that gives me great pleasure to complete.
The picture below shows the binding glued in place. The next job here is to scrape it flush with the top and rib. In this picture you can see the finely marked Amazon rosewood. and the detail in the cocobolo.