Putting Things In Place

 Using some birch dowel around the inset for the neck overhang to provide both a clean edge and strength.

The hole in the bottom of the neck set was where I used a nut and bolt to compress the neck block into place on the underside of the guitar top while the glue dried. That hole won't matter when it's assembled, and it worked perfectly to keep the pressure and alignment right. Unfortunately, pictures of this process were lost when I put my trust in a cheap (read: free promotional item) USB stick.

Using some maple veneer on the undersides of the sound holes to prevent splitting of the laminated spruce strips of the top. Once glued in place I used a sharp blade to cut the holes open again, leaving only a maple rim around the underside of the sound holes. The one in the picture is extended downward to include the area where the holes for the knobs will be drilled as well.

Sound Holes Written in .... Spruce.

I often say to myself, "it ain't gonna get done just by me lookin' at it all day", so I went ahead and decided I was happy with the position of the sound holes and cut 'em out.

After carefully and gently clamping the top down, I started by drilling a few pilot holes, and then I used a small keyhole saw to cut them. No high-tech stuff here, just old-fashioned hand/eye coordination. I used a template to make sure the holes were symmetrically placed, that's about as technical as I got. I used an x-acto blade to refine the cut, and sanded them smooth. They just need a little more cleaning up and they'll be good to go. Since I'm going for the look of an old radio design I have decided not to put binding on the inside edges of the holes.

Voila, I now have enough room at the back end to place the buttons - no more pesky stuff in the way of strumming problem.

Button Problem Solved.

Well, I played with a whole bunch of ideas for new sound holes, most of them involving completely new designs. In the end, all I did was make them a little smaller, flip them end for end, and move them forward. The first pic is my original design; the problem with the sound holes is they don't allow for the best placement of the vol/tone buttons. I cut two sound hole shapes out of card stock to play with placement and size. After making the changes to the size and position of the holes, there is now plenty of room for the buttons, and I think I have managed to maintain the cathedral radio influence I was going for.