"Butt-wedge"

The first little bit of decoration added to this guitar is the "butt-wedge" on the tail end of the guitar. I suppose they came about as a way to cover up a poor joint where the sides meet. I used a little scrap of Honduran Rosewood with some nice grain lines. The first step is to cut the piece into the shape I want.

I traced the shape onto the guitar body then used a saw to just cut through the side wood. I used a chisel to remove the side material and get the cut straight and smooth. I took my time with this step because I want the joint between the walnut and rosewood to be clean and sharp.

The wedge shape is convenient. You can get a tight fit by simply tapping the piece into place. After letting the glue dry for an hour I'm ready to trim off the excess.





I came back the next day and cleaned up the glue squeeze-out and thinned the piece to match the thickness of the sides with cabinet scraper. Honduran RW is so nice to work with. It is a hard wood, making it easy to scrape. It also has a nice smell when working with it. I really like the way the colors of the woods work together.

The last step is to drill a 3/16 inch hole exactly in the center of the butt-wedge. The hole matches up with a hole in the mold. I use a 3/16 inch drill bit as an index pin to keep the tail end of the guitar from slipping in the mold. This will come in handy when I sand the sides down to the final shape in the sanding dish. The hole will be covered up with the end pin when the guitar is finished.