Coming along nicely @tej 👍😁 

🎶🎸🙂🙏

That is looking good @tej! you got it under control 👍 

@robin turns out that I needed very little in terms of carving for the belly and wrist carves so they’re both quite slight. In might need to carve the lower horn out a little more to allow better access to the higher frets. Won’t know for sure until I’ve got the neck he’s cut to size. Thanks again for posting your pics!

You could almost be fooled into thing this Is going to be a guitar. I’ve got a small design flaw on my part, the lower horn, despite taking more of the thickness out is still in the way at the last few frets. So I can either live with it, remove my little finger, or carve it down more. The latter is most tempting but I’m risking the horn looking a bit spindley. Photo isn’t from the best angle!

@tej I have the same issue with one of my builds. the cutaway should be a lot lower.  It is also difficult to balance on my lap because of the weird curve at the bottom of the lower horn. It looks like your shape is quite similar, do you experience the same ?

@koendb I always wear a strap with the guitar quite high so I can have the neck at a high angle so there’s no strain on my wrist. On the rare occasion I don’t use a strap I’ll have it one my left leg so it’s balanced between them, usually with a foot stool as you’ll likely have seen classical guitarists sit. 
There’s not enough wood for me to change it how I want really so just need to remove what I can checking it regularly to make sure it’s not too weird looking!!!!

Next build I’m going to mock up a full template, neck and all so I can avoid this kind of thing again, also plan for next time is a through neck which eliminates the problem entirely!

@tej

Your carving is looking good. As for removing fingers, I've tried it and wouldn't recommend it.

@robin thanks, I’ve made both horns a bit thinner now too so the lower one doesn’t block things, it’s a little annoying still but overall I’m not going to spend “that” much time at the 24th anyway! Will post updated pic later after I’ve shaped it with sandpaper too.

A few minor scratches to get out now, then deciding when to drill the bridge holes. Also need to focus a bit of time shaping the tips of the horns as they’re a bit sloppy.

Apologies to all for radio silence, not a lot to post about while I’m applying coat after coat of finishy coloury gloop, it’s all just more green than it used to be 🙂

As for the headstock logo, that’s been such a pain, spent too much money on alternative ideas that didn’t pay off. Finally found a combo of transfers and clear coat that didn’t react to the finish I’ll be applying to the neck and head stock. I do however need to cut the transfer so carefully so there is no clear part over the wood as it’s, well, just not clear enough! In hindsight the stupid money the pro made transfers cost is looking quite appealing right now 😬

Well this is al getting rather infuriating, finish was going well until I added grain filler, it’s now a total mess, while sanding down the filler I caught the edges too much and took all the colour off them. Couldn’t get it back the same as the rest so literally need to sand everything back now. Very disheartening to say the least.

, while sanding down the filler I caught the edges too much and took all the colour off them. Couldn’t get it back the same as the rest so literally need to sand everything back now

I feel your pain there @tej. Try mixing some stain into your sealer to get a match before you resort to sanding it all back.

@robin I had done, it just looked a mess, really uneven texture and colour. Just need to suck it up and start again. 

@tej 

Its difficult to comment without seeing a photo but not all instrument finishes are designed to be even all the way over, and stain often looks bad until the final finish coat. Sounds like you have created a relic type of finish with some natural wear and tear without realising it.

Sadly what I created was a mess @rocknroller912 I know what you’re getting at but that’s really not what it’d have come out like and is about as far away from what I wanted as you can get. No matter, I think I’ve enough stain left to make a good job of it if leaving out the grain filler this time that’s for sure!!

@tej

It must be bad if you don’t want to show it. Scraping is sometimes better than sanding to remove a failed finish as sanding can just rub it further into the grain. I’ve been there so learned the hard way.

@rocknroller912 yeah very displeased with my Frankenfinish! I took to it with the random orbital in the end and took it right back finishing by hand with the grain. First coat of deep colour went on well so all should be well.

Well hello there, after an uncooperative summer mixed with illness and isolation progress is now being made again. Top coats of finish now going onto the body and neck, pics to follow. Looking at about another 4 thin layers, then a few weeks to allow a full cure, then to glue the neck on and continue. 100% going with water based finish and quicker drying laquer or ok next time, without spraying this process has been a pain in the *#$!
Frustratingly I canned the idea of a logo, too expensive to get professionally done when I’m not selling the instrument and my experiments weren’t up to scratch compared to the rest of the guitar. 
Hope you lovely people are all well 🙂

@tej Hey man, I’ve somehow missed all of this, just caught up now. It’s all looking superb and you just have to work through the mistakes, it’s part of the job. I’m looking forward to seeing the finish. Keep going man. 👍

I’ve somehow missed all of this

I’ll not take your previous silence personally @boo 😉

Only concern now is that the bridge is a very tight fit in the mount holes, at least it is in the test ones, I meant to address that before I applied the finish but didn’t stupidly. Just hoping enlarging them doesn’t cause an issue!