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Okay took a two month hiatus on this build to start the violin and spend time with my daughter and grandkids..
They are back in India now and it's time to get back to this project.

Today I cut out the soundhole and glued a the rough braces to the top. Lots of carving to do.

I radius the bottom of the X braces and lower tone bars on the radius dish after cutting the shape of the radius on the bandsaw close to final shape. Works a treat!

I used Indian rosewood for the bridge plate on this one.
Bracing looks heavy but it's 5/16" wide to 1/4" on the little short tonebars. Flat braces atr 1/8" thick. Had to use this style around the sound hole to accomodate the LR Baggs Anthem control unit that will mount under the edge of the soundhole.

Up above the transverse brace I have split tounge braces as there will be a "foot" extension off the neck block under the top there to accommodate the bolt down fretboard extension ser up. You will see that later in the program.

Tomorrow I carve the braces!!!

More pics

I know not everyone likes it, but I prefer Indian rosewood for the bridge plate.

I have used Indian rosewood, maple, macauaba.
Not sure what big difference it makes. But the rosewood splinters the least when I drill the pin holes. 😀

I got the top braces all carved and pretty today and closed up the box.
A couple of pics showing fitting the top. I used tabs one either end glued under the rim to position front to back.
I'll usually use little blocks glued on the top that fit on either side of the neck and end blocks that help position and center the top. This time my fitting of the brace ends went so well I didn't need to do that.

Top in the gobar deck. The back is already glued to the rims.

Tomorrow I'll trim around flush and work on the end wedge. It will be curly Koa to match the back strip and the binding to be scheme.

The box is complete and now top and back trimmed flush with the router.

Then I started gluing maple strips to the bottom of the curly Koa binding going on this guitar. .020" maple gives a nice thin accent on the sides.

I cut the maple from a veneer sheet and use clothed pins to clamp the strip on the binding leaving gaps so I can wick in CA glue. Hit it with accelerator flip it over, wick in the CA there, flip it over again, remove the pins and finish wicking CA. I'll run these through the drum sander to even it all out and thickness to .070" which is what I use for bindings when I'm doing abalone purflings.

I also made a Curly Koa end wedge that I'll install tomorrow.

I like those high performance clothespins. To me, clothespins and toothpicks are the ultimate in “bang for the buck” tools.

I used those pins on kerfing for many guitars. Now I use binder clips there. But they are perfect for this project. I've glued up many bindings this way. If found it works THE BEST! If your going to bend bindings with side purfling, you want to glue them up with CA.

Got the body all leveled on the sides and the end wedge installed. Looking sharp.
Checked my neck angle. It's on the money and 92 degrees. Top is nice and flat where the fretboard will lay. I I have about 1/8" over the saddle area now. With a 5/16" fretboard and a 9/16" bridge I should end up with about a 1/8" exposed saddle at set up. (fingers crossed).

Bent my bindings today. They came out perfect. Fit the guitar channels near perfect.

Controller shows 244 but I bend at 275...it was ramping up.

Routed the binding channels top and back.
Top gets binding and abalone purfling scheme. The back gets just binding....no purfling.

So I taped the binding in place on the top using Teflon stips in the purfling channel to secure the black line that goes against the spruce edge. This allows me to really check the fit of the binding and make corrections before gluing. Then I wicked in CA along the binding between the tape. Pulled the Teflon out and wicked in CA down along the inside where the binding met the sides. After that I pulled the tape off and wicked in CA in any spot that didn't have any.
Once that is all done I started inserting the abalone. I put the second black fiber line in the channel against the binding and start inserting the abalone. I set it about 5 to 10 thousands low in the channel so I can later flood CA over the top, filling any voids and making it so when I scrap it all down flush I'm scraping CA instead of the shell. Also the binding is about .010" proud.
I use laminated shell sold in curved pieces for rosettes.
This is WAY cheaper than solid shell which has gotten so expensive now, like $1.50 to $2.00 per inch for straight pieces. Too much for me.
I get 15 inches for $9.00 shipped on Amazon.
Anyway I didn't take pics this time of the process but you see it in my last guitar build.

The binding and purfling is now scraped down flush. I like using my favorite scraper for this....utility knife blades. They work great.
The back and sides are also proud about .010" and have scraped flush. All done now. My bindings end up .070" thick in this scheme.

Now I'm moving on to the fretboard and the headstock plate.