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Just joined the soundboard for the OM I was starting, but when I got it out of the clamps, I noticed that it had shifted (one half a little high). By the time I got it sanded down even, it ended up being a thin and flexible .083 -.085 thick.
I went ahead and inlaid the abalone rosette, but then decided that I didn't want to take the chance with one that thin, so started over. After I jointed the edges on this one, I glued it up only using binding tape to pull the halves together rather than my clamp setup. That was very quick and worked great! The halves pulled up good and tight and remained flat. I did clamp a caul accross the seam to make sure it didn't shift, but believe that it would have been fine without it. It worked so well that I might adopt this method going forward.

Since we are on the subject, here is my method. Works well too.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

That is a sweet setup! Very elegant and balanced. I like the way that there is distributed downward clamping force to hold the plates flat and in alignment. Do you use two different sized jigs for steel strings and classicals? Or do you find that one size is adequate for both?

Thanks.

Very Nice Alain! I must say that is a much more elegant approach!

Thanks for the nice comments guys!



No, I only have one jig for all the three models I offer. You can not see it well on the picture, but there are multiple holes where the cams can be inserted, thus adapting to several size boards.

Note that I intend to eventually replace the cams with wedges. Easier and faster.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

This one is classic and hasn't failed me yet!



Just glue up, rope up and push the wedges in. There is room for cleaning the excess glue off and it's open enough to inspect the joint as you go. It also stores away in a very small space.

Greg N

Yes indeed this setup works very well. I needed to go a step further in my design since my drum sander will only accept one half at a time. So since I have to get the halfs to final thickness before joining them, I needed a setup that would insure a joint that doesn' move AT ALL when gluing. The result if fine; I just have to scrape the glue squeeze out when done.

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Alain Moisan
Former full time builder of Acoustics, Classicals and Flamencos.
(Now building just for fun!)

My setup is very similar to Gregs, the nice thing is it accepts tops and backs of all sizes and shapes. Many times you get a top or back that is not nice and rectangular but it doesn't matter with this jig.

Heavy duty masking tape and hide glue. You do not need anything else. No seams. Works great.

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com

+1 to what Sylvan said. I use binding tape and it works great.

This is the method I am using, and it has been working well for me:



Glenn