This is a sister of #18. Same tree soundboard, only very minor voicing modifications, but with a body of rare “red” Indian rosewood. Indian rosewood usually comes in the classic brown tones, while fewer sets are purplish. This one is very intensely purplish and under finish looks quite beautiful, as I have seen on a previous build. I remember reading this might be a subspecies and growing in northern India. The Chinese had a similar wood “Suan Zhi redwood” which has has been a staple of their luxury furniture. Some research has showed a lead towards dalbergia cochinensis rather than dalbergia latifolia but I’m not certain. In any case my Chinese wooden planes are made from exactly this sort of rosewood and they are labeled suan zhi but I don’t know where the wood is logged and if it’s simply the red variety of latifolia relabeled because of the classical (for them) color. Yes I am as confused as you are now.
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- Sides bent
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- Smoothing the back
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- Planing the end strip
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- Some cleaning to do
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- Cutting the binding ledge
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- Cutting the miters
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- Cutting the purfling with a fine Japanese saw
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- Leveling the purfling, I’m using a very high angle, very finely set block plane
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- First top binding and purfling half
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- Leveling the purfling
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- Purfling shavings
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- Planing the FB
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- Refining soundhole cut with a knife
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- Gluing the FB
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- One of my favorite parts is to cut the saddle slot using a very fine Japanese saw. The cuts are only 0.3mm wide.
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- Gluing the bridge
