The devil is in the detail

Does anyone really give a monkey’s about how the finger rest/pick guard is attached to my mandolin? But as they say “The devil is in the detail” and there is a lot of planning and careful work in this apparently simple fixture.
Firstly, the fretboard extension has to made, no two edges are parallel which makes things a bit tricky!

Once it’s been made, it's temporarily held in place with a wood screw, then a piece of maple (which will eventually be fixed to the underside of the finger rest) is shaped too.

 I use brass machine screws to attach the finger rest to the instrument, so threaded inserts are fixed into the side of the fretboard extension. As I mentioned, no two edges are parallel, so it’s clamped to angle plate to ensure that their holes are drilled true.

Then a couple more test fits before the fretboard extension is finally glued to the mandolin.

Those two pesky little pieces represent a good day’s work! Yep, “The devil is in the detail”