I got the back and sides out of clamps and routed it flush. Looks good. I’m going to let it sit a day befre I start messing with braces.
I got out some really nice Spruce from my stock. I believe this is Sitka — notice the glinty lines — but I couldn’t swear it’s not Engelman in a court of law. Either way, it is nice nice wood. I planed off the edges and got them gluing up now. Tomorrow I’ll sand the top and start laying out where the braces will go. But first:
I need to decide what to do about the neck. The neck dimensions drive where the bridge will float on the top, and that in turn determines where the bridge plate has got to go to reinforce the top, and that placement in turn determines how the X bracing is going to fall. So what I really need to do is think a lot about scale length, zero fret or no, number of frets to the body… hmmm.
This guitar is contemplated as a hybrid between a Maccaferri-style manouche guitar and a good old fashioned Dreadnought. This is where the rubber meets the road. I have to decide what to do.
