Body Blank
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<<< Neck Finish Sanding Part 2
Neck Pocket & Pickup Cavity Routing >>>
The body halves are drawn
on the board which will
make up the two-piece body
blank, making the most
of the figuring in the
wood - ash in this case
The two body halves after
cutting from the board -
this time it's mahogany
The two edges to be joined
are planed (lower), then
sanded
with a medium
coarse block (upper),
checking to ensure the
edge remains absolutely
straight and square
The edge being sanded
with the block
Once the edges are
sanded and checked
satisfactorily against one
another
for gaps in front
of a bright light source,
they are scraped with a
blade to remove sanding
marks and achieve a very
slight 'dishing' of the edge -
this will give a neater
joint
The edges are both glued
and then ...
... gently but firmly clamped
up with sash clamps -
the excess glue which
squeezes from the joint
is
carefully cleaned up
A two-piece body blank
after the glue has dried
under pressure overnight
The blanks are machine
sanded to their finished
thickness plus 0.5mm
A centre line is drawn
along the glue line
and the body shape
drawn in using the
body template
The blanks are then
marked out ready to
have
their neck pocket
and pickup cavities routed