French Bass Brace advice

[Matthew Tucker]

Usually once I take the top or back off, I keep the corners and blocks into position with a sheet of 4mm plywood. Cheap and simple. A small screw through the ply into the face of each block holds everything in position until i'm ready to replace.

Jointing a back with a bend or curve in it, is tricky. You can't just line them up on a tabletop. I note Arnold's temp block method which I 'll have to try. Last one I did, I built a pair of cradles to which I tack-glued the back pieces. This allowed me to align them on a flat surface, plane the edges and clamp the insert simply and accurately.







... and before anyone says anything about the alignment of the upper bout in the next picture, this was just the two sides pushed up against each other before glueing!