rosette work today.

00 zouk first...

marked out on a piece of scrap.... and the segments marked cut and glued down



then cut out to make a donut shape with a fly cutter....





cutaway jumbo marked out.....



segments cut and stuck down with superglue (CA)



cut round with a fly cutter....



same slots cut in top....



and track cut out with dremel.

I was then ejected from the building by the caretaker (janitor to the Americans)so assembly can continue tomorrow!

cutaway mando bridge pin holes reamed & pins fitted.



there are strings on it!!!



getting the wire for th pick-up out through that little hole to join onto the strap-jack is a LITTLE tricky, but with a little ingenuity and a crocodile clip on a cable........





the OM is pretty much done except for a little setting up.

I'll leave the mando & OM for a week or two to let them settle under the string tension before tidying up the last few wee tweeks and getting them off to thier new owners.

I MAY have to record a little something with them before they go.......







and the cutaway Jumbo is properly under way. the ends of the bent sides are trimmed and this is the back view, the biggest of the offcuts in the middle will become the cutaway



the tail block is glued in.

OM pickup.

hole drilled for strap jack......



then after the cable cut to length & soldered......



the 00 zouk is out of the mould & the back trimmed......



and the cutaway jumbo sides are bent.

yes, I KNOW that the cutaway isn't.... well..... cutaway yet, but it will be!!

so, bridge onto the mando.

work out the correct place by using my bridge placement jig. this uses the strings to hold the bridge in place while it's slid into place.



then it's cut around with a very sharp blade....



the finish is removed from inside the cut



and then the bridge is glued in place



meanwhile the OM has the pickup fitted inside the bridge and a hole through the top. the hole is small enough to be invisible under the bridge, and still allow about 5mm movement for intonation adjustment



truss rod covers for both the OM and the mando.....



and the back is glued onto the 00 zouk

lots of little bits here & there.....

back bracing on the 00 zouk...



bridges of the OM & cutaway mando. the OM bridge is hollowed out to make it lighter and this is them after a first coar of varnish.



the tops of the jumbo & zouk...



after a couple of passes through the planer the rosewood for the jumbo is awful perty!!



here's the back joined.



and heres roughly what it might look like. I'll make the body mould from this template