Stewart MacDonald 5342, Assembly Instructions Manual

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instrument is finished.
Before fitting the neck to the body, shape the neck, including
its heel and scroll
(photos) . Good tools for this work include
chisels, files (both round and flat), sandpaper, and scrapers.
A good tool for tight areas is sandpaper wrapped around
dowels. The small abrasive belts of the Sand-Stick tool make
great scroll sanders.
When you’ve done a dry run and are comfortable with your
clamping plan, spread Titebond glue onto the rims and
clamp the top on for real.
Clamp the top in place and drill a small hole (approx.
1/8"/3.175mm) through the top into the neck block
(photo
above) . Drill a second hole through the top into the tail
block. At the butt end, drill the hole within the area where
the saddle will be notched into the top later (see "Install
the tailgut saddle"). Use these as alignment holes during
glue-up: insert two small brads as alignment pins to quickly
reposition the top while the glue is wet.
If you’re going to attach a label, now’s the time, before the
top goes on!
(photo, top right)
Using spool clamps or cam clamps (photo right) , practice
clamping the top onto the back/sides assembly without
glue. If you have a limited number of clamps, you can
supplement them by also using string and/or rubber bind-
ing bands (which are wrapped around the violin). If you use
string, also use pieces of cardboard to protect the edges
from being crushed.
For this step, the fingerboard and nut need to be temporarily
“spot-glued” to the neck, with just a drop or two of glue to
hold them in position. Your kit may have arrived with the
fingerboard and nut already spot-glued; if they’re loose, use
a drop or two of glue to temporarily join them to the neck
for this step. The wall of the pegbox aligns with the nut.
After fitting the neck to the body, the fingerboard will be
removed for finishing, then permanently installed after the
Prepare the neck
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