MIMF

Alain, thanks for pointing out that the creased top was not present on all chitarre battente. I found some nice photos on the site: http://www.alfonsotoscano.it/battente.htm . As to whether or not Luigi Mozzani conceived of a bent top guitar, that's an interesting question. I looked through Intelisa...

Al, the mandolin top is not flat, but arched. The photo Craig posted above shows a pliage clearly, but you really can't tell from the photo just how sharp the bend is, as so much is dependent on the lighting angle in photographing the guitar: making 3D judgements from a 2D image is very, very diffic...

Ah, the continuing mystery of the pliage! I've not been able to determine whether or not any of the Selmer instruments were scored on the underneath side of the top beneath the pliage. The few photos of the undersides of Selmer tops don't appear to show any kind of scoring. Jon LeVoi has stated that...

Well it looks as if the image posting didn't work.

Try looking here: http://s7.postimage.org/41y9p38bf/raymond_frame.jpg
and here: http://s18.postimage.org/pkkdsg715/raymond_frame2.jpg

Here are a couple photos of my joining jig: http://postimage.org/image/wrl5lqcbb/ http://postimage.org/image/m0yg2n4b9/ That is, if I have done this image thing correctly. I wrote in the original MIMF posting: "The jigs were made with an 8mm rise at the bridge position from either end of the to...

I've made the pliage with a shallow cut in the underside of the top, although I don't think it necessary; from what I can tell, the original Selmers didn't have a cut, but were simply bent over a hot pipe and joined in a special cast iron clamping jig that holds the pliage and dome as the join is cl...

I can't add much to what has been already said above, but neither can I let this opportunity to give you a big "thank you for everything and best of luck in your new venture" pass by. We'll all miss you, don't you know, and will be ever thankful for all you have contributed to making the M...