Gluing the top

I glued the top on to the rim tonight. This is a big deal because now, I no longer have a rim, a top, and a back that can all be in different places. Now, the top and rim must be in the same place at all times. Yippee!!! It is a big deal though. Its a big step towards finishing this thing!!




I wrote a dedication to my son on the inside where I signed the top. Its a tradition to sign the inside of the top before you glue it on. My wife said, "What if G does not want to play guitar? What if our next child is a girl? You are writing this stuff to Giancarlo!" I said, "Well...it IS written on the inside so its unlikely any child we have is going to see it. Plus, I can always say that I built this guitar when we only had one kid. Which is true" She still thought I should hedge against offending any future children. I did not hedge. I'm just nutty like that.
Well...here are some pics!

The top picture is of the top clamping board during my dry run. That means there was no glue on the top when I put the clamping thing on.
Here is a view from the inside of the mold. If I had the ability to take EXTREME close up shots, you would be able to see how well this clamping system works. There is not a single bit of the top not touching the rim. Every bit is tight to the rim. That's kind of important if you want the guitar to last. Capish? (That means "Do you understand?" in crappy Italian. I don't speak Italian, but what little I do know is crappy.)
There are many ways to clamp the top on. You could do what is called "roping" where you use a long elastic strip to tie the top down. You have to wrap the elastic around and around to almost completely cover the top to ensure you get it tight to the rim.
With the method KMG uses, and how I did it, I was able to align the top, tighten a couple of screws to make sure the top didn't shift, then I used a cordless drill to mostly tighten the rest of the screws. I used a hand screwdriver to do the final tightening. That way I could tell how tight I made everything and not over tighten any of the screws. It was fast and easy. I am leaving it clamped overnight...and most of tomorrow since I have to work and wont be home until after 5:00. Although I really want to open it up now to see the damn thing!! I will have to wait.

I am off to bed.