External Jig

Originally I hadn't planned on constructing an external mould for the guitar as I hadn't anticipated such a large amount of spring back when I released the sides from the side bending jig. In order to keep the shape of the sides relatively true to the original template I decided it would be necessary to construct a very simple external mould just to hold the sides in the correct shape when gluing on the kerfing, back, front and sides.

It is important that you glue the kerfing in to the guitar body whilst it is in the external mould otherwise the glue joints will be strained if you try and force the body in to the mould afterwards.

I constructed the mould from the leftover plywood that I used to construct the side bending jig. In truth, the plywood was actually a bit to thin for this application however I was reluctant to spend yet more money on materials just to put together jigs.

First, the sheet of plywood had to be split in two to make the two halves of the mould. Then, I drew around the template and added in the appropriate lines to cut along leaving space to attach clamps to hold the sides in the mould.

Here is the finished mould with the sides of the guitar held in it: