Book Matching the Back



I dry fit the back to the sides. The back is about 1/4" shy, it's too small for the body! Help! After much anguish, I ordered a new mahogany back set from LMI and save the original kit back for another project. The new back set is sized for a jumbo guitar. I figured out that I could get two back sets out the wood. This set will will be book matched.
It seems every step I take, I need to build another jig. In order to prepare the back I built two jigs. The first one is book match plate joiner. I made the joiner by attaching an 8" board on my table saw fence and a strip of sandpaper double-taped to glass. I taped both back plates together and sanded them until they matched. It doesn't take much effort to get them to match.

The second jig is a gluing board that provides even pressure on the two plates. The jig was made out of 20"x23"x3/4", 2" ply strip screwed to one edge, second ply clamping strip and triangular wedges to provide even pressure. Remember to put wax paper under the plates.

Comments