Gluing the back

I started to work on the back and sides of the guitar this weekend. Here's a pic of the Amazon Rosewood as I received it from the dealer.

The two pieces that will make up the back of the guitar had to be thinned to about .110 inches. I brought the wood to my friend's shop (RolandAdamsFurniture.com) to get this done.

First each piece was sent through the planer.

Then through the jointer to square up the edge for gluing.

Now it's ready for gluing. The two back pieces with a D-28 style checkered maple back strip in between.

I use fish glue to build my guitars which has very similar properties to hot hide glue but fish glue is much easier to work with. Like HHG, fish glue is a collagen glue and dries very hard and crystalline. It grabs the pieces you're gluing fairly quickly but still allows time to make adjustments. The clamp time is 6 hours.

Here's the back pieces all glued and clamped. I'll un-clamp in the morning and glue on the back braces.