The bracing of this lute was a little different to traditional instruments, with a combination of ladder braces and fan braces in the bridge area.
First braces to go on are the small rose support bars. The purpose of these is just to support the very delicately carved rose, where the soundboard thickness is only about 1.4mm
The remaining braces glued on:
The bridge is made from pear wood, with an ebony cap:
Gluing the bridge. Unlike a guitar, the bridge is glued before the top is glued to the body. Here I’m using my “go-bar” deck. A very traditional method of clamping dating back to the 17th Century, but here using modern rubber-tipped fibreglass bars, rather than wooden ones.
Next post will cover the neck and neck extension.