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This guitar will be for my brother-in-law, who is paying me to build it. We've been discussing what he wants, and at this stage of the proceedings we have:

Cutaway OM
Red spruce top
Yellow birch back and sides
Walnut neck
African blackwood fretboard, bridge, and head cap

Yesterday we got the back and sides set from Northwind Tonewoods in New Hampshre. And it is impressive. Here is a photo of half the top, wet down with naphtha. Tom calls the wood he's getting from this log "Twisted Rose." This back and sides set is one of the best.

Jeez, that's pretty wood. Might be fun to go with the 'twisted rose' theme for inlays...

I've jointed the top plates for gluing. Held up to a window, no light gets through so I guess they're okay. I'm debating whether to use TItebond or hot hide glue. I've used Titebond on all the other tops I've done, and it works fine. HHG may theoretically be "better" (maybe), but in this application I'm not sure it matters. I'll probably use Titebond for the longer working time. The only places I absolutely want to use HHG is gluing on the neck, and gluing on the bridge. And maybe gluing the braces.

It's hard to believe this board is flat....

I've been making braces. I also thicknessed the fingerboard and trimmed it to length. That turned out to be a bad move. I looked up how to go about sending to LMI to be radiused and slotted. I discovered they have a minimum length of 19;5" I trimmed it to 19.25". They also have a minimum thickness of 0.275" and I reduced my fretboard to 0.270" Rowrbazzle.

So...I'm seeing if RC Tonewoods will do it. If they won't, I guess I'll go ahead and do it myself. I radiused and slotted the fingerboard on my first guitar. I can certainly do it. It's just...a pain, when LMI will do it for 18 bucks. Assuming your blank meets their size requirements.

I asked John, our most competent and efficient host, if he could slot and radius the fingerboard for me. He said he could, for a reasonable price, so I sent it to him a few days ago.

Now I need to arrange some time with Carter to use his bending machine for the sides and his thickness sander for the top and back.

Things are moving slowly...but moving. John did a great job slotting and radiusing the fingerboard.

I've glued the top plates together and done some hand sanding. They are amazing quality red spruce. I'm trying to arrange some time with Carter so I can use his thickness sander and get his help bending the sides. He was forced to take a "real" job a while ago, however, so his time for guitar work is severely curtailed. We'll work out something, eventually.

Thanks to Bob Gleason's suggestion I got the back plates to stay flat, so I may see about gluing those together next.

That Yellow birch is something else! wow!

It sure is. I hope I cnn do it justice.

I've profiled the sides and sanded them to 0.100" thickness. I'll probably take them down a bit more, eventually. Isn't a typical side thickness more like 0.095" or even a bit less?