Official Luthiers Forum!

This tip is for wood merchants as welll as builders.
This may not be news to many, but it was great news to me! If you are joining top or back, before shipment, take one board and on the side to be joined, and on each end of the board cut off a triange, about 3/4". Then, when the back/top is glued, you will have the space formerly occupied by the triangle. Now all you have to do is draw a line between the angles pointing to opposite end and you aways can locate the exact cenerline.

That's clever, Bob, Thanks for the tip!

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now known around here as Pat Foster
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

i had read this tip somewhere before, but my addled grey matter didn't retain it. thanks for bringing it to my attention again. mayhap second time lucky...???

I always either do that, or join them a bit offset so an end hangs off and 1/8" or so on each end, if you know what I mean.

Good idea for builders but I don't think wood sellers should do this. For backs, I often consider joining the two pieces in multiple ways. And, even for tops, I sometimes decide that the wide grain look better on the inside (not often, but sometimes). Also the triangle should be tiny. I'd hate to have to show a blemish that could have been removed by putting my template very close to the edge of the board.