Fitting the Soundboard

I began fitting the soundboard to the rim, now that the liner and upper framework is done. First I roughed it out with a hand saw, then used a block plane and spoke shave to fit it exactly. The soundboard must fight tightly into the case.

A note on moisture content: The soundboard needs to be installed in the case while it is dry so that in the summer (humid) it crowns up. It would split and crack if that was reversed. The soundboard was at six percent moisture content from sitting in the shop. It should be fitted to the case at around percent (says Zuckerman/ZHI). So I sponged it down on one side and thought the moisture would penetrate given the thinness, but I returned after letting it sit for three hours and found it had buckled up so that the center was about eight inches higher than the edges.

More later, off to work on it now.