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1st scratch built box closed. Wash coat only. All mahogany w/ Englemann bracing. The x braces are slightly shorter (.45") than my target (.5") so let's hope it doesn't fall apart.

I'd like to find a different saw for the kerf cuts. Fret saw has a depth stop but the cuts are a bit thin.

Undecided on tinting or staining under a shellac french polish.

Neck's are coming along slow but sure.

Martin's top bracing of the 00 in the mid 30's was .45 and less, so you should be OK

Ed

ruby@magpage.com wrote:Martin's top bracing of the 00 in the mid 30's was .45 and less, so you should be OK

Ed

Thanks! I appreciate that. Box seems sturdy enough and has a nice tone when tapped around the lower bout and bridge plate. I got this wood on sale and am glad I did another practice run before doing the more expensive sets cuz I love this guitar!

rough dovetails came out. Next challenges are fretboards and bending a cutaway on the next one up.

As a new builder, I get overloaded w/ information sometimes. I've see guitars w/ this strip of wood in the tail block (cross grain from the block) and think I remember a post about it here but can't find it. So I've made one and thought I'd post inquiring on just why I am doing this. :D

This is a mahogany strip from a back so is about 1/8" deep. I've read this can help the block from cracking. As this one will have a pickup jack here, I thought I'd try it. Any opinions or more information on adding a strip into the tail block?

after more searching, I found the answer. It is for crack mitigation on drop and should be plywood.

source: blues creek quick tip.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1PWWJLOGk6A

i miscalculated this distance and was off by .1" which doubles as it's 1/2 the width of the fretboard. Instead of selling me an expensive blanket, John recommended the clothes iron to remove this block and the fish glue released easily. I cleaned it up and it was long so trimmed the side and reglued. Back in business.

my fretboard will be 2 1/8" at fret 12 so this 14th fret distance is 2.175" /2 = 1.0875. Got it on 2nd try.

The form and insert are working ok.

2nd home-made box, 1st cut-away. There are a couple of issues along the edge that I hope the herringbone and side binding will cover but we'll see. Looks like any issues if visible will be minor so I'm pretty happy.

Particularly happy w/ this one.

I re-sawed a 5/4 board on my tablesaw to make these back and sides. I broke 3 sets of sides bending this cut-away so glad I was making them from cheap but very nice looking (to me) lumber. This grain has just the look I was going for.

This mahogany was much more difficult to bend than the less figured set i posted earlier in this thread. This one sure taught me how to plane and chisel with the grain.

John's new bending video helped quite a bit. I agree w/ his recommendation that the mahog likes about 275f/135c on the bending iron and just hit w/ a sprayer before bending or else trouble comes in many ways.

You're doing a great job! They're looking really nice.