Bending and Gluing The Upper Bout Rib

The upper bout rib is bent and glued in the same manner as the lower bout ribs, except that I have used a one piece upper bout rib and a two piece lower bout rib.  As with the lower bout ribs, the upper bout rib is first glued and clamped at the top block.  It is again important that the ribs be parallel to the corner blocks to avoid twisting the ribs and creating gaps between the rib and the form.

Next, the upper bout rib is glued and clamped to the corner blocks.  Note that the corners are still way too long and need to be trimmed at this point.

With all of the ribs glued in place, the next step is to cut mortises and install the linings.