When I asked Dale to place an arm bevel, I really hadn’t given it much thought. I figured a sharp plane or chisel and some patience and you would have it done. Nuh uh - this is why I am not a luthier. First, the area needs to be reinforced, then after the cut, you’ve got to figure out how to handle the binding - you can’t just leave a visual gap and say, “Good enough.”
No need to freehand, especially if you are going to reproduce the shape again in the future. A bandsaw and some MDF does the trick.
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Here’s where I would have screwed up. I would not have clamped the piece well enough and while routing the bevel, everything would have slipped (you don’t need to ask me how I know this). I see that the guitar is sitting nicely in a cradle for this operation.
Like so many skills, the key to success is always looking forward as to what could go wrong and taking every step to prevent that from happening. If that means fabricating cradles, cutting guides and forms in advance, you do it. It’s much easier to prevent an error in advance than to have to correct the error after the fact.
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So Dale’s trick was to place the purfling before cutting the bevel.
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Would modern luthiery be possible without cyanoacrylate glue and masking tape?
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