I cut the headplate way oversized, and now need to thin it to 1/16". I made this little board, attached 80 grit sandpaper to it for some grip, and tacked on a "fence" to hold the headplate in place.

A few passes should do it. Don't ever attempt to thickness small parts such as this without a backer board of some sort!

Here's a tip: when all I need to do is make a few passes on a small part, and I want a finer grit on the sander than is already on it, I'll simply duct tape a short section of abrasive on the center of the drum. Quick, simple, and works perfectly. Beats having to swap out the entire roll!

The result....

Oops! Forgot a few photos; here she is fixed to the headstock, trimmed and already rout3ed for the purfling lines, which will be a simple black and white

Marking tape is the clamp that holds the lines in place as the glue cures. I install them by going "around" the headstock, always fitting one miter at a time.

The

I'll grab a simple socket that is smaller than the radius I need, and wrap the purfling slowly around it.

The end is cut using the trial and error(or as my Late Dad would have said, "trial by error" <lol>); with the purfling bent to a smaller radius than needed, the purfling will push itself into the channel tightly.

Here's how I cut the miters; a sharp 1/2" chisel.

Another tip; for really bearing down and taping the lines tight, I'll double up the masking tape for a few key spots. Doubling the tape like this still allows it to stretch some, so it acts as a clamp, yet it can take an awful lot of pull before breaking. Try it!

Done!

..

Here's my homemade logo inlaying rig. It runs east/west and north/south on ball bearing drawer slides. Simple and effective

I cut roughly 73-75 of my76 logos completely by hand before deciding to have someone cut them for me on a CNC. The company also cut me a female of my logo to use in my rig.

A Dremel tool, with router bits I get from my friend and Dentist, Tom Vockeroth do the routing. Someone on The Mandolin Cafe gave us the tip of using a little wee bit of tape on the router bit; it creates just enough air movement to clear the dust and chips, yet doesn't unbalance the bit. My hat's off to you!

Here's what the logo looks like before inlaying

And after!