Installing the End Graft

Where the two sides meet at the tailblock, it's traditional to include an end graft (usually of a contrasting wood or the binding material) to give the end of the guitar a clean finished look. In order to chisel out the region and work on the guitar, it has to be clamped something like this:

I chose to use a figured maple to match my bindings. Many people recommend that you use a wedge shaped graft because you can easily adjust the taper and drive it in for a clean fit. I liked the contrast of the maple against the rosewood so much that I chose to make my wedge significantly wider than most, so as to have as mush figured maple as possible.

Here's the wedge shape being chiseled out of the side material at the tailblock:

I chose to pair the figured maple wedge with black/white/black purfling strips on the edges, which I will later miter and join to the binding. Here's the wedge being rough fitted in place:

Here's the final maple wedge trimmed flush:

Once the graft is in place, I finished scraping the sides smooth and level in preparation for routing the binding ledge (I didn't take many pictures in this stage, but the transformation from rough bent side wood to smooth glassy guitar side wood is unbelievable). In all honesty, the entire leveling and scraping process was fairly tedious and took hours. By the end however, I learned both how to properly sharpen a scraper and how essential it is that the scraper edge be sharp and well burnished. Here's my clamping arrangement for holding the body while scraping:

LESSON LEARNED: If you can't burnish a good hook on the edge of your scraper, don't even bother working on the sides of the guitar. You will get nowhere fast and likely become frustrated.