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Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 2:27 pm
by ChuckBarnett
So, being a noob, I assumed that the back strip on a guitar or ukulele was full thickness of the back. So that somehow you joined the two sides to the center strip with glue. But by poking around the internet, it sounds like people inlay that strip of wood rather than join it. Is that right? And I guess that's just like inlaying a rosette?

Re: Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:01 pm
by Kevin Sjostrand
Actually it is easier to glue up the back panels with the strip between, then you just thickness it all down to your desired result. Strong, and perfectly in the center of the back every time.

Re: Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:30 pm
by Danl8
I agree with Kevin. I started with the recommendation from Irving Sloane book on Classical Guitar Construction 40+ years ago and use a strip equal to the depth of the back. If I had one of those fancy end mills like John has, things might be different.

Re: Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Fri Mar 03, 2017 5:34 pm
by ChuckBarnett
Kevin Sjostrand wrote:Actually it is easier to glue up the back panels with the strip between, then you just thickness it all down to your desired result. Strong, and perfectly in the center of the back every time.
Thanks, again Kevin. :-)

Re: Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Sat Mar 04, 2017 8:17 am
by tippie53
I always glue in between the plates unless I have to replace one during a conversion , then I use my inlay tool for that. Diane Kaufmann took pics of me doing that I think . Lets nudge her to post them

Re: Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2019 11:52 am
by nkwak
I'm bumping this because I am about to go through this process and I have an observation and a question:

Observations: my boards are thicker than my center strip;

Question: should I thickness sand my boards individually before joining them and the center strip together?

Re: Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Fri Aug 02, 2019 8:12 pm
by phavriluk
When dealing with a backstrip thinner than the plates on either side, I see nothing wrong with adding a shim to the backstrip to build it up. Sand level both sides, add the center reinforcement, and forget it's there. The shim will never again see the light of day. And the shim might just keep the backstrip from breaking apart, as I've seen discussed elsewhere.

Re: Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2019 8:21 am
by Diane Kauffmds
tippie53 wrote:I always glue in between the plates unless I have to replace one during a conversion , then I use my inlay tool for that. Diane Kaufmann took pics of me doing that I think . Lets nudge her to post them
I'm going to look through my photos. Unfortunately I had a massive drive failure about a year ago that took all of those precious photos with it. It wasn't a typical failure. It was zapped good and I've not been able to retrieve anything. Fortunately, I have an aversion to tossing out old hard drives. I'm pretty good at retrieval and I'll try again. Now I automatically save to my hard drive and an exterior drive.

I'll see what I can do guys.

Re: Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Sat Aug 03, 2019 9:05 am
by Diane Kauffmds
I'm in the process of building a dread which I inlaid a back strip. The strip was thinner than the back, so I decided to rout a channel and inlay it over the seam. This way it also reinforces the center seam. It was easy to do.

I used 2 straight edges, in this case, 2 pieces of wood, which I clamped over the back. I left enough space between them to accommodate my router base plus the width of the back strip. I used a 3/32" router bit that was extended to the depth of the back strip. With the 2 pieces of wood and back firmly clamped to my workbench, I simply ran my router up and down between the wood, routing out the channel.

As you can see, the strip fit perfectly.

I made a drawing. If it will help, I can set up the whole thing and take a photo for you. Let me know.
PicsArt_08-03-08.25.01.jpg
PicsArt_08-03-09.03.49.jpg

Re: Method of inlaying back strip?

Posted: Thu Aug 08, 2019 6:37 am
by tippie53
what is the thickness of the center strip if it is over .125 thin the plates to match. then when glued then then to desired thickness