Trimming the Sides

Now that the sides are glued in place each needs to be shaped to fit the contour of the back of the guitar. The tail-block is 4" and the heel block is more shallow. I drew parallel lines from the tail-block to a location about 2" behind the waist – from there the sides will angle down to the heel-block. You can see the lines drawn on the sides in the photo below (heel block).
Almost all of this wood removal was done with this handy small plane. However I did use a chisel from time to time.

Getting close, I only removed about 1/8" in the back but had to remove almost a whole inch in the front.

Just a little further...
Once I was very close to each block, I used that sanding board (shelf) that has 80 grit sandpaper spray-mounted to it. This was VERY noisy, almost like a turkey call or fingers on a chalkboard. This will create two flat planes. I will round them off slightly, later after the kerfing is glued on.

I used sidewalk chalk to see where the sandpaper was hitting and where I needed to sand more...

Here the sides are sanded flush with the tail-block.


The heel-block is sanded almost to completion, but I had to stop. It was getting late and I'm sure my wife would appreciate me stopping all the noise. I will finish this up tonight – not much further to go. This photo gives you a pretty good idea what the contour will be...


I decided to start to chisel out the mortise for the neck joint. This makes way less noise. I stopped short of the soundboard – I didn't want to accidentally puncture it with the chisel. I think I will probably cut the rest with a fret saw or maybe the dremel.Can't wait to get back on it tonight!