The last update for now

Now that I got the Kerfling I began the soundboard. The soundboard joint confused the shit out of me. The two halves of the soundboards, all the books make it sound like some complicated joint, but its actually just 2 perfectly flat halves of wood butted together without a drop of light shining through. So after I figured that out, I tried to find the best method to do this. You know what worked best? A 2x4 with sandpaper wrapped around it. I went back and forth with it a few times and I had all I needed. I glued it all together. Now there was a big problem at this point though. The wood near the seam had split. So this guitar I am naming, THE GLUE MONSTER, because anything that didnt come out perfect (any splits or anywhere where the joint is perfectly flush) gets covered in titebond so it looks like its fine. I dont think this guitar will last very long but for $100, it doesnt have to, I am learning so much from this experience (I have a martin dreadnought kit coming in a few weeks because I have a problem with building new instruments.) Anyways, I put the soundboard together, glued and clamped, and began cutting and shaping the braces. The braces were a full days work. Cutting, chiseling, and sanding/dremeling. I paid alot of attention to the braces and their strength. I would rather loose sound quality and have stronger braces at the soundboard seam, just because of the split wood. These braces are going to be the biggest factor in holding this guitar together. Cutting the sound hole out before gluing the braces on was vital. But the jigsaw just did more damage to the splitting in the wood. Every step closer to putting hte braces on, the more I realized the importance of their strength. Lets hope it holds up! So after lots of sanding and adjusting I took a 2x2 and turned it into nice rounded braces. My next step is cutting the shape out of the guitar and bracing the backboard. After that I glue the soundboard and backboard to the sides and have a completed body. That should be done the first week in August and hopefully I will post the progress on that up as I get there!