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Thanks to all who replied.

Don't get me wrong, I'm having a really good time with the project, but even with my fairly extensive woodworking experience, I find myself hesitating and triple-thinking each step of the way. Building a musical instrument is a whole lot different and, to me, more intimidating, than a piece of furniture, and a lot more difficult to correct a mistake.

Thanks Diane for the photos. Although I don't really understand the purpose of, or need for a tailblock reinforcing strip, it appears that it is to be glued to the inside surface of the tailblock, in line with the back center strips. The grain does run the opposite direction than the tailblock, so I'm guessing it's just insurance against splitting.

About the fabric strips (struts)...the plans DO show how many and where. The confusion is the conflict between the drawings and the manual. The plans show 3 per side; the manual says there should be 8 per side. Go figger. I ended up using 6.

The tailblock strip prevents catastrophic cracking of the block if you're guitar is dropped on end. I've had cracked tailblocks come into my shop. It's a tough repair to make.

6 stats is a good call.

Thanks for all your responses to the Op I was gifted a Stew Mac kit for the holidays by my sister and her family for building something over the summer. Overall I am happy with the kit but there is definitely conflicting instructions between the DVD and the printed version. As far as the cardboard form goes I am using it only because I could not get the bent sides to sit properly in the a OM form I used for a Martin build. The depth of the cardboard form had to be adjusted with thinner blocks in order to install the kerfing on both sides of the guitar. Other than that I think the kit will come out fine. My first kit was guided by Bill Cory's book and I still refer to it often and Johns videos are great resources.

Pat

I, like others here have finally come to the realization that the SM instruction book and DVD are generic, and no more than a general guide to building a guitar. I've gone to looking for answers online and have watched several hours of John's videos. For a visual learner like me, this is very good stuff.

I tried for a while to get questions answered through SM tech support, but because of Covid, staff are working from home and are hopelessly behind. There is no telephone support at this time, and it has taken as much as 10 days to get a response via email. Their customer support folks said they're working hard at hiring and training more staff, so things should get better, soon.

The tailblock reinforcement strip that came with the kit is very much like that shown in Diane's photos, except is surface mounted and not inlaid.