Post #13 - Soundboard complete.

The bridge plate has been installed as well as the finger tone bars.  Below you can see the finger bars before final shaping.

With a bit of chisel and sanding work, the finger bars are now in the final shape.  Here are the finger bars on the treble side.

I provided beefier fingers on the bass side.  I scalloped one of the fingers.  In the photos below you can see the rough shaping after the chisel work, and the final shape after sanding.

I spent a bit of time with the chisel and sandpaper to reduce glue squeeze out.  Some luthiers use water to clean up glue squeeze out, but I have a concern that the water may also weaken the glue joint between the braces and the top so I prefer a dry clean up.  It is a tough balance act between removing enough squeeze out without damage the top or adversely impacting the glue joint while having a clean enough top.  Luthiers are generally meticulous about a clean top so I may end up going over it one more time for final glue clean out inspection.  I also knocked down any sharp edges on the braces.   Here is a pic of the top after final clean up (I still have to glue in a cloth reinforcement at the x-brace intersection).  Now on to the back, but first I have to make the braces from spruce stock.