Not a perfect fit

Okay, so when I woke up this morning (the second time) my dad had already removed all the clamps and blocks and said that the harp looks fine so far. I couldn't wait so I went down to the basement and continued to work on it. The next step was to slide in the backside, which wasn't as much sliding as it was pressing. I sanded the edges to make them fit better into the slots, and I tried to put it in the whole way before I put the glue on. Perfect fit. I removed it, put on some glue and.... not a perfect fit. I couldn't move it either way! So it's a small crack right in the top now (the first pic below, but I don't think you can see it since it's so thin). My father said it was because the glue made the wood swell slightly.

I'm glad it was the backside because it hasn't have to be the whole way in and it's barely visible. I will seal it with something later on. I will ask my father to help me when I will slide the frontpiece/soundboard in because I think it's very important that it fits perfect because of the string holes has to be in the right places.


I also glued and nailed the bottom of the backpiece, as you can see in the second pic. It doesn't look very pretty at the moment but there will be some small lists there later to cover it. And I will trim it also, it's way too long right now.

I will continue this afternoon, I just need to breath a little.