Day 2

The second day start with the back bracings. We first clean the renforcement strip with a scraper and round it with chisel, plane and sand paper. For that kind of work, Lorenzo use the chisel upside down to do not dig into the wood. No clamps are used, the right hand push the chisel, the left hand hold the top and guide the tool.

We prepare then the bracings : saw to the right length and plane them.

We mark a center line on each side of the bracings and draw the curve from a template.

The curve is made with a chisel and a plane. At the end, we plane the three bracings together to keep them square and make sure that we have the same curve on each.

The slots are cut on the back renforcement with a knife and a chisel and cleaned with a scraper. We don't want to place those bracings straight above the top bracings because we will need space for the "peones" we will glue on the ribs to support the bracings.

 

It is now time for gluing. Flexible blocks are fixed under the back with masking tape to protect it.

We next work on the soundboard. The outside is cleaned with plane and scraper. Because of the irregularity of the grain we have to plane across.

We then plane the soundboard from the other side to 2,3 mm.

During this time, Lorenzo is working on a new Frignani guitar.

When the thicknessing is done, we cut the final shape with a knife, leaving no extra.

The soundhole is drawn with a compas, using the distance between the 12th and the 19th fret to define the position. We make a first cut with a copying saw.
 

At the same time, Lorenzo works on the restauration of two violins made by Pietro Messori during the 1930s. A book about this violin maker from Modena is in progress.