Cutting the grooves for the purfling in the top is, in many respects, more difficult than for the back. The spruce is much softer than the maple used for the back and this presents its own difficulties with splitting. Additionally, the very pronounced grain structure makes cutting a smooth groove problematical as the tools want to follow the grain.
I set up a magnifying glass to see more clearly what I was doing and after initially marking the groove with the double bladed purfling cutter, I then used a scalpel to incise the edges and removed the waste with a small gouge.
Gluing the purfling into place was accomplished using cramps made from clothes pegs.
The finished top
