I overslept?

I know I promised multiple updates a few days ago, but I've been all consumed with the X-Games, and its been too hot to work, and I also had to wait for my StewMac order to come in, and pick up a few things from Menards.

So I got out the other night and finished carving the braces and sanding the mold.  Last night I bought some brackets for the mold to hold it together, so here's some pics of those:

Today I put together the mold, and did a couple last minute touch ups so its flush in the center.  I also cut a neck blank, which promptly broke when i put it through the jointer to true up the edges.  So I ended up cutting a second one, which after the glue dries on the heel, I'll cut and glue the scarf joint for the headstock.

While that started setting, I set up my tiny little table saw to cut the veneers for the sides.  I think in the future, I'll find another way to do it.  This was a bit scary.  After that, I set up my little double board planing jig I used for the top/back, and trimmed and sanded it down to the line I had marked at 2.125".



Now I'm going to take a break for awhile, because I'm sweating more than playoff intensity Kevin Youkilis.  Later on i'm going to try out the smaller bending iron I set up with some test strips, and possibly get the sides done.  This one is a 2" tube, with a step down to 1.5", using a 1500 degree heat gun as the heat source.

I probably wouldn't reccomend using something like this full time.  This will just hold me over through my first couple ukes until I can buy one of the super expensive models from Luthiers Mercantile.