This my next guitar, a fully carved acoustic archtop named Catharine that I finished in 2016. It is flamed redwood over mahogany back and sides, with a triple X brace. I wanted the bracing to be light, but was a bit scared by the advice I was getting that the curly redwood would not be very strong, so I added a center brace right up the middle of a normal X brace. Fretboard and headstock I ordered from England's Custom Inlay. Neck is three piece curly and birdseye maple, bolt-on joint. Finish is sprayed acrylic lacquer and the burst I call a "sunrise burst", was hand rubbed with red, brown and yellow alcohol based dye. It turned out well, has a very clear and transparent, kind of shimmery tone with a lot of volume and headroom. It's by far the loudest acoustic I have, it's as loud as my resonators.
I am currently designing and starting to build a unique (I hope) nylon stringed archtop, Adirondack spruce over spanish cedar back and flamed maple sides. I am putting a lot of thought into how to make an extremely light and responsive body that retains a lot of strength and stability, to make the nylon strings work well.
This pic is part way through the finishing process, before final gloss coats or polishing.
