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I'm not in metal working, but I've been there, and done that. I've seen your work and whatever you do, it works out great. It proves that you don't need a bunch of fancy "Luthier only" tools to get the job done, and done well.

Well, it's coming along. The back is on and the edge trimmed flush with the sides. This photo shows a couple of the minor disasters I've inflicted on myself, and their recovery.

At the top of the lower bout you can see the reinforcing strip where I glued the back together after i broke a piece off.

At the waist along the bottom edge you can see a light section that looks like it might be paper stuck to the edge. Its's wood, not paper. The kerfing in that area is seriously too low. The added wood is a filler to make up the space. I'm not sure what happened, whether the side profile was cut wrong, or if I somehow distorted the sides when I put them in the mold, or what. I suppose a better fix would have been to remove the kerfing in that section and raise it up enough to eliminate the gap.

Wow! You’re making good progress! Keep up the good work and don’t beat yourself up on the minutia. Warts are evidence that your work is done by hand. As crazy as it sounds, some pay extra for imperfection or for “relic” qualities. As long as it doesn’t buzz when it’s done no one will be the wiser.

super love watching these blogs

I got the top glued on and trimmed. I started cutting the binding channel with a gramil, as I've done before. It's coming along, but I'm thinking of giving Carter a call and arranging to use the binding machine I built a while ago and traded to him for something or other. I've already proved I can do it with a gramil; I don't necessarily need to do it again, although it's rather meditative and I don't particularly mind doing it.

I'll also include a photo that shows the extra body depth beside a "standard" depth OM style body.

Lookin good Steve.

I went to Carter's and used the binding machine. Even though I built it this is the first time I've actually used it. I'm here to tell you, it works ridiculously well. It makes the job of cutting binding and purfling channels trivial. John sells a version of it.
It's pretty expensive, but it sure does work!

I have John's binding machine, and I'm so thankful I bought it. It makes it so much easier and precise. But, when you've got a disability like we have, it becomes even more of a tool we can't do without.

But it's not a cure for stupidity. I did the binding before I did the end wedge. I think I did that once before....you would think I'd get it right. So now I'm debating what to do about that.

MaineGeezer wrote:But it's not a cure for stupidity. I did the binding before I did the end wedge. I think I did that once before....you would think I'd get it right. So now I'm debating what to do about that.

Done that before too. I taped the binding from the waist to mid lower bout, then used a hairdryer to "unglue" the bindings from the wedge area, then put the wedge in. I cleaned the old glue out, and re-glued the binding. No one ever knew.