Saturday 23 February 2008

Purfling & Back Strips

I like to keep things simple when it comes to details, using shape & proportion as the main aesthetic, using line & colour as means of highlighting a shape or tone of wood colour. I once made a piece of furniture using American Black Walnut & turquoise Formica, I remember thinking at the time that this colour combination would look fantastic on a guitar.

I buy in colour veneers to make my own purfling. Here is a simple jig for gluing strips up. If I need lots of one type, I’ll make up wider strips and cut them down on a veneer knife.

This blue & black strip is for the back of an Indian Taran Beag 667. Once the strip has dried, I square up one side & glue it into the 2mm slot routed in the back. When dry it is flushed off with a block plane & the back is ready for the spruce graft & braces. I'll put pics up of this process soon.

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