Too late! Man I love that shot!

I guess I should take more pictures like that one!

When I am working with a highly figured wood I'll often go with laminated sides. It gives the sides more strength/stability and when you bend highly figured wood at full side thickness they can come out pretty lumpy.
On this guitar I am using maple laminates. This side is being compressed in the mold as it sets up:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/517/31...d49e6e76_c.jpg

Thanks for following!
Mark

Neck and Heel Blocks
 

Here are the neck and heel blocks going on. This process also joins the sides;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/733/31...938224ae_b.jpg[/url]

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/556/31...18c428da_c.jpg

You can see the maple laminates on the inside.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

Is there a reason why you picked Maple for the interior laminate?
Have you discovered previously it matches up with Paudauk sonically? it is a good combination structurally? or is it simply a looks thing?

The choice of the "interior" wood for use with double sides is something I haven't manage to spot any specific trends in yet.

Thanks

David

Nice story!
 

I am really loving this beauty! Nice story about your house and the reflections on the ceiling.

My pal Steve has a spectacular Padouk John Kinnaird axe that is both beautiful and super musical. Nice wood and makes me hungry!

Cheers

Paul

I chose maple for the interior laminate for several reasons; It is lightweight. It is not very porous so it doesn't suck up a lot of glue (adding weight) or have a lot of glue bleed through. The color isn't a problem. There is no sonic consideration or any need for one in my opinion unless you are considering using something that might deaden sound like maybe cork or balsa wood.

Thanks Paul,

Padauk is an excellent tonewood. I only hear two types of complaints; one is it can be difficult to bend and when your sanding the usual red brick colored Padauk the red color gets everywhere, places you really don't want it to show up on/in!

Best
Mark

Breakfast?
 

Bacon and scrambled eggs?

Mark,
You got me looking in my wallet again.

Alan
the Pina

Mark,
What's your take on Macassar vs ebony for fretboards?

Great!

Functionally I don't see significant differences. There are some small differences; Black Ebony tends to be a little more brittle which might mean you would have more chip out on a re-fret job. Macassar rings better when you tap it generally. Macassar tends to be a little more resinous or feel a little more oily. In practice if you are using a treatment on your fret board they would feel the same and probably wear about the same.
The biggest difference is the looks. Black Ebony being the more traditional black, though lately that straight black is often assisted with dye. Sometimes the streaky gray is left to show. Macassar can have some beautiful grain and depth similar to Brazilian Rosewood.

Back On
 

The back braces have been shaped and we're closing the body up. Here is a picture of the back going on:

]https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/357/31...62b35c78_c.jpg

Sound Port
 

We are going with a sound port;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/595/31...b0d7de65_b.jpg

Here the back is on;

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/647/32...8c57911e_c.jpg

Next the top gets voiced and the body gets closed.

Thanks for viewing!
Mark

How about a picture of the bracing through the sound port?

OK, A bit of a trick but, my IPhone with a little fish-eye attachment lens did the trick:

https://c1.staticflickr.com/1/426/32...577dac18_c.jpg

Mark

Cool shot, Mark!

This one is looking great--still loving that Padauk...

Now that is cool! Awesome shot Mark.