Started Solera..

aving ordered the inventory for the guitar I made a start on the solera.

Before getting started on the construction made a trip to Officeworks to photocopy and enlarge the 1/2 scale plantila plan (Courtnall). I was surprise that the plans when increased to scale dont fit on A3 so I ended up having to stick to "halves" together to get a complete plan.

A trip to Bunnings (local hardware chain) was in order as I required timbre for the solera.

Materials/tools purchased:

1 - MDF (600mm X 900mm x 16mm) - for the solera

1 - 120 grit sandpaper (roll) - sanding out the 2mm dome for the soundboard

4 - Pine 700m x 65mm x 40mm - 1-2 for the rib blocks and soundhole clamp , the other 2 were for sanding block or practicing cutting of the neck scaf joint.

1 - 1000mm Steel ruler - straight edge and to create curves for sanding blocks...etc

Cutting a 2mm dome in MDF is bloody hard work!!!

 

I found that for the initial roughing of the dome that a spoke shave worked best. I tried various rasps, files and a block plane with very limited success.

Using a combination of the spoke shave, a homemade 2mm curved sanding block and a straight edge (steel rule) , after what seemed like 2-3hrs (actually just under 45mins) the dome was complete.

 
(Solera Design from Courtnall - The image obtained from a Delcamp.net thread)

Time to use the bandsaw. I needed to cut out the shape of the solera which obviously requires curves. Id only previously used the bandsaw to do straight cuts and was unsure how I would go cutting curves.
I was reasonably pleased with the results, a couple of uneven spots due to the neck section hitting the side of the bandsaw (lack of awareness on my part) but was able to sand most of them out.



I still need to plane the neck relief ramp and seal the solera with some varnish and it will be ready for use.