The Body

This is my work log of how work with the body progressed:

When doing this, do not forget to think about the neck too. There are many things to keep in mind, one example is how the distance of the neck effects the location of the bridge. I made both the body and the neck at the same time.

Before you commence with this you will need to choose what dimensions you want for your neck, you should also consider if you want to use a truss rod or not. I decided the dimensions during the work, but I do not recommend it.

24th of October:
I have now decided which side will be the front of the balalajka and which one that will be the back side. I have also sanded both of the sides of the body. The total weight of the piece of wood is 10 kilos.

This will be the back side of the balalajka.

This will be the front.

1th of November:
Yesterday I planned some general points to the build... Other than that I also fixed two templates of the body, one for each side, I used my acoustic balalajka to draw the lines. It would have been sufficient just to make one, but I wanted to be absolutely sure that this part is correct, as it will be very noticeable otherwise.

I used some pieces of wood that were left over from an earlier project.

2nd of November:
Today I have moved on and made a complete template, which covers both of the sides. (I used the templates that I made yesterday to fix it.) I also draw lines for the neck on the body.

3rd of November:
I have taken a look at the place of all the details of the body, the pickups, the knobs etc. Here is a picture of what I have concluded, the location of the bridge is not correct, as I still have not decided the dimensions of the neck. As I draught this at the back side of the template the other dimensions of the body are not correct.

4th of November:
I have now calculated the dimensions of the neck and thereby I have concluded that the neck also will stretch down a bit further. Here on the new picture the bridge and the neck have their correct position. For exact details of the dimensions, please take a look at my plan.

The back side

The front

I am probably going to make the pickguard go down further, so that the pickups are not disturbed.

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