Mowry Stringed Instruments

Workshop Page 2

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	Here's a top with the recurve carved around the edge (it will be finalized after the instrument is assembled and the binding has been installed).
	I use my drill press set up like an overhead router to cut the soundoles.
	This is the jig that the above setup  uses. The aluminum insert with the soundhole pops out and is flipped over into the other opening to cut the second soundhole. I also have different aluminum inserts for different soundhole shapes. The smaller aluminum guide allows me to cut the 15th fret cutoff in the top with the same jig. This ensures that the 15th fret crosspiece on the body is always exactly the correct distance from the soundholes, and perfectly square to the centerline of the top.
	Here I've just cut the 15th fret cutoff using the above jig.
	I carefully carve the tonebars so they mate perfectly with the three-dimensional curve on the inside of the top, and then I glue them in place with hot hide glue. Wooden "clothespins" work well for clamping the tonebars.
	A small plane carves them to their final shape. This is where a lot of flexing and listening comes into play.
	Speaking of flexing, this jig measures the amount of deflection under a given load in the bass and treble side of the top and back. It allows me to adjust the plates to get the maximum amount of response, and helps ensure consistency in sound from one instrument to the next.
	I glue the top and back on using a suite of spring clamps.
	The channel for the binding is cut on the router table with a little adjustable wooden guide. The two spool clamps hold the instrument off the table so there is clearance for the arch in the top and back.
	I cut the binding channel around the scroll by hand. You can use a Dremel tool to remove some of the waste, but I find that doing it by hand with a sharp knife and small dogleg chisels is just as fast.
	Binding the instrument is one of the most time-consuming and least forgiving steps, and it is where attention to detail really pays off. I heat plastic binding with a heat gun and slowly form it to shape. The miters are cut with a variety of chisels.
	Here's the binding on a completed scroll.
	I cut peghead overlays on the bandsaw after sticking them together with double-sided tape. An oscillating-spindle sander and small files are used to clean up the curves. Overlays with simpler shapes can be cut on the router table with a template and a pattern bit.
	I find that I can obtain the cleanest results by binding the overlays before gluing them to the peghead surface. If they are to be "triple" bound, I install the inner black/white purfling first.
	Then I install the outer white layer. This layer is a little thicker than it needs to be, and will be sanded to the correct thickness after the overlay is on the peghead. This allows me to take into consideration the complex geometry of the angled peghead edges. The binding would end up too thin in some places if it were not left a little thick at the start.
	I saw out rough neck blanks and rout the channel for carbon-fiber neck reinforcement bars. I'll then glue on the peghead "ears".
	After gluing the overlay to the peghead, the peghead shape is cut out, and the Safe-T-Planer machines the back of the peghead and neck to the correct thickness. Small spacers hold the neck at a tilt so that the peghead and neck shaft both end up tapered.

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