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Starting #8. An all Alaskan Yellow Cedar early L-1. I have built 2 to this shape already, one in maple and a Nick Lucas copy in mahogany. I just finished a resonator made of a piece of Ash log from a friend's farm - the whole thing including the neck was from the same piece. I was intrigued by the idea of all the same wood, and when I saw a Flamenco guitar made in all AYC, I decided to give it a go.

1) scraping a joined plate - got the pictures in the wrong order

2) a Flamenco guitar that helped inspire me

3) here is my stuff - AYC for body and neck, Ebony for head plate, fingerboard, bridge, end graft, and binding, abalone for rosette, purfling, and fretboard binding, tuners, frets, brace material - all the goodies

That's going to be a nice guitar Ed.

1) Layout the basics - I am using an early Gibson L-1 body shape with a 3-3/4" soundhole. The 13 fret neck moves the bridge down a bit in the lower bout

2) Never done an abalone rosette before - the pieces are cut to a radius that is very close to what I will be using

3) I may have caused myself a problem - the abalone I got is very very thin (on edge on the tape in the center of the soundhole), so the cut out section is very shallow and this will make it difficult to get the taller purfling strips in place.

1) My solution is to install the inner purfling strips first, using little nails to hold it in

2) Glue in place with super glue, then plane flush - great shavings

3) The abalone and outer ring of purfling now fit in really well. The center groove is for soundhole binding

1) Soundhole binding is a piece of black plastic binding that is left when the center is removed. Who knew you could scrape abalone?

2) I couldn't find an affordable open-back tuning machine with Ebony buttons, so I bought Grover Sta-Tites and some Ebony replacement buttons. First stick a bit that fits into the button hole, then clamp the button in a vice and install the bit in the drill press - this centers the hole. Install the bit that matches the shaft of the tuner and drill - using a tape depth gauge.

3) Cover the hole with a piece of tape and open the hole with the same bit

1) Work epoxy glue into the hole, getting the air out, then press onto the tuner shaft

2) Let the glue kick a little, clean with lacquer thinner, and pull the tape

3) One last clean up and they look perfect

Ed, looks like a great project. AYC is very nice to work with, tho never thought about using as top wood. It makes a nice lute back.

Been on hold for 10 days - my local cabinetmaker friend has a thickness sander and he was giving a class so couldn't sand for me. His machine has a 36" wide belt, 20 HP, and has a 3 HP feed roller motor. Funny to see wood at .085 going through this monster machine. Sanding all done

1) Trying something different. Larson braces were a laminate of Spruce and Rosewood. I am making them of Yellow Cedar and Osage Orange. Here is a jig I made to safely cut thin strips

2) Ready to glue up - the total thickness is just over 1/4" - .27" - to match a 1933 Gibson I have. I will be using an earlier Gibson L-1 body for this small guitar

3) Made my heel block and neck block of flat sawn Spruce. I added a thin piece of plywood to the heel block to discourage a crack from traveling. I am using a bolt on neck

1) Braces glued up and shaped

2) Cut the slot for the X-brace

3) Using my 28 foot radius sanding batten, I trace the shape on the bottom of the X-brace

1) I cut the curve on the bandsaw, then sand the final shape on the sanding batten

2) The braces look interesting with the center laminate in yellow - in 6 months the Osage Orange will turn a mellow honey color. Drew my own bracing pattern based on others I have built - I opened up the X a few degrees on the lower bout

3) Now to start gluing - I install 1/2 of the X-brace against my sanding batten. Still haven't invested in a a sanding disc or a go-bar deck, and probably won't at this point