For the past week I've been prepping the sides to accept the plates. From what I've read the most common procedure is to leave the braces long enough to extend beyond the outline of the sides, measure the dimensions carefully and then cut notches into the kerfing and sides so that the braces stick out. When I saw Mr. Kitchen Guitars do this with his first build I thought it was ugly but he told me that he did it because he was in turn told that it would "lock in" the braces with the rims and make the guitar stronger.
I'm not totally buying it but I figured I'd give it a try - and I'm paying for it with the back. The issue is that the rims on the back taper so that the entire back plate has to bend so that it fits. That complicates who you would go about measuring and marking where to cut into the kerfing/sides. Last night and earlier today I tried measuring and even made some cuts with the back just lying free on the rims. I was driving myself crazy because I had to repeatedly realign the back to the sides and made MANY marks. When I started making my notches I started with the lower bout because it was easier since the bend is at the upper bout. The problem happened when I went to notch the upper bout. When I bent the back everything shifted, but luckily nothing's broken and my cuts are shallow enough that I can fill any oopsies for structural reasons and for visual aesthetics the binding will cover them.
I posed this problem over at the Kit Guitars Forum and somebody suggested I use rubber bands to secure the plate to the sides. I was wondering how I'd do this without taking the sides out of the mold when it occurred to me that I had some bungie cords lying around. They lock right on to the sides of my mold nicely and I think I've got a good working solution. It's too late tonight to fire up the Dremel (I got a smaller model for Xmas from my wife last year) but tomorrow hopefully I'll have my notches finished and the oopsies filled with scrap spruce.
Now for the pics:
The top's rim isn't tapered like this so it's mostly ready to go. I just need to sand things smooth with progressively smoother grits of sandpaper. Once that's all done - and I don't jinx things with overconfidence followed by the inevitable brain fart - I should be ready to close the box. (Crosses fingers)