Does anybody else do this?
While I'm still new at building, I like having my options open (or call it a lack of confidence
) so I close up the box, without bindings, with a wash coat to seal, fit the neck (bolt-on) on without glue on the fb extension. Then I glue the bridge on with only a thin bead on the trailing edge, and string it up.
This way, if I'm way off somewhere, I'm not sacrificing the finish or binding if something is really wrong, like if the top is too floppy. Removing it or back wouldn't be too painful. The bridge will hold Ok for a while, but with just a thin bead of glue along the back edge, it comes off OK. Then when everything looks good, intonation, etc., I pull off the bridge, do binding and finish.
Seems to have worked for me on my first, and #2 is about there. I was glad when I did it this way on #1 when I was able to bring out a little more fullness by thinning the top in the tail area, something I wouldn't have tried if I'd had bindings and finish done.
One possible downside is that there's not as big a bang as plucking the first notes on a more complete guitar.
Any opinions?