Miter Cuts by Hand

The most important possession of an instrument maker is his workbench.

Stanley Doubtfire, Make Your Own Classical Guitar, 1981


You know you've gone completely nuts when you take a bone keyboard tail, cut it into three pieces and then glue all the pieces back together again with some added black veneer. I did this to make a veneer overlay for the tie block on one of the guitar bridges I am making.





After I cut the three pieces and super glued on the black veneer, I made a miter box out of a piece of scrap pine.





I've cut many a precise cut when I was a full-time finish/trim carpenter, though I never did any work this small on a custom home. I think these Xacto brand mini back saws are the best!






Testing the cuts as I go.






The end pieces are so small that I had to put everything on a piece of double sided carpet tape.





All the pieces and miter cuts are coming along nicely, though if you have a good eye you can see a piece that was cut just a hair's width too short.

To assemble the overlay, I first tacked the center piece to a sheet of paper with cyanoacrylate glue, then with the help of the wicking action of the black wood veneer I glued each piece into place. It went pretty fast.






The overlay is ready to be glued onto the bridge tie block.

The photo in the background shows an original bridge made by Hernandez y Aguado.

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