Before hollowing out the back I had to finish planing and scraping the front to a perfect finish. Below is a diagram I used to guide me in shaping the contours. Using the pencil callipers i had to keep marking out and shaving more off until my lines resembled the picture.
Nearly there! (with a lot of help)
Then i had to mark out where the f holes had to go to give me another reference point for the final finished shape. This had to be done several times to make sure the holes will 'sit right' all of this is done by eye looking at the plate side on then adjusting with the cabinet scraper, redrawing the holes on until i got the Ok from a teacher. A whole day spent finishing the front arching was well worth the end result.
I spent most of the next day gouging out the back. Using the pencil callipers set to 6mm i had to keep hollowing out inside the guideline i'd drawn before until it was all under 6mm. It wasn't as scary as I thought but then I took it really slow because the whole thing could split at the joint or worst case I could go too deep. I had to stop and work on the scroll in the afternoon as my palm was really sore from the pressure of holding the gouge. I will post pics of the scroll at a later stage.
The last morning was spent using the shoe planes. With another diagram to help me with the thickness's i had to aim for 5mm right at the centre then graduating out to 4.5 - 4.0 3.5 etc with the thinnest part being 2.6 at one end and 2.8 at the other. All the time just shaving tiny amounts off and then stopping to measure with dial callipers. Getting this right is crucial to the sound it will make.
I've still got a bit more to do on this but the centre is bang on 5mm now and my edges just need uniforming off to the 2.6 and 2.8 measurements. Its unbelievably fiddly!!
I came home with a cracking blister to show for my efforts :-)
I can now go along to some 'pay as you go' classes in May and then ive booked a whole week at the end of summer. I'm past the halfway point now, but I am very slow! so who knows when i'll be finished. I will be sure to upload a video of me playing it ( better get practising those scales!)
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