on the rubber, so
that I get sure curves and even surface all over; and then I take
No. 0 paper, working well many times round and round by the outline
and all over and lengthwise among the curves until I finish this
exacting piece of business and fine art, as shown in fig. 9.

[Illustration: PLATE IX.]

And the height of the wood at the middle bout is five-eighths of an
inch; at the upper seven-sixteenths of an inch; at the lower, bare
half-inch more or less, a fine eye being necessary to discriminate
to a hair.

CHAPTER VI.
WORKING OUT THE BACK.

Passing on, I draw your attention to the working out of the back.

I show you, fig. 10, what must be drawn on the back and belly (on
the flat, of course) before a chisel touches the wood for
excavation. The blocks at either end speak for themselves, they
having been fashioned to shape out of Swiss pine, and planed and
squared so as to be glued square where you see them marked, later
on. And be sure they stand one-and-a-half inches high in the rough,
for a reason I will give you later, and about five-eighths of an
inch thick, to about the breadth you see on fig. 10.

[Illustration: PLATE X.]

Before, however, you can do anything in hollowing out the back, you
will have to provide yourselves with a bed in which your table must
firmly rest while you do so. Therefore, purchase a block of dry
beech or birch, about one-and-a-half inches thick, sixteen inches
long by eleven inches wide, and lay your finished back in the centre
of it, tracing the whole outline, button as well, distinctly
thereon; and having done so, cut by the outline inside all round to
the depth of about one quarter of an inch, and from this basis
proceed to make, as nearly as possible, a counterpart of the model
of your back, but reversed, of course. And get all the tool ridges
well levelled with rough to fine sandpaper; and, when you lay in
your table for cutting, place a strong piece of brown paper for it
to rest upon, not only to prevent it in any way scratching the fine
surface of your wood obtained at so much trouble, but it enables you
to shake off it quickly any residue of coarse dust or small cuttings
that _will_ creep under the wood upon which you are working; and so
you get on rapidly and cleanly.

You will notice that I have again drawn the guitar line, and at a
distance from the outline, so that a sufficiently flat surface is
allowed for the ribs to rest firmly upon later. And I cut