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This is the text of the email I sent to my friends about this guitar
Title: Played her for the first time today
Body: NOT happy with her looks-- She sounds good-- Her neck is wider than I'm used to & boy does she have a wide lower bout. Needless to say, she has a GREAT personality. Hope I did not offend anyone with this.

A few things I have to do-- Truss rod cover, lower the action a mite, get/make a case, Play often

Oh nice! Archtops are so cool. How do you like the sound?

More pictures please! Phil it looks great and congratulations

That darn truss rod cover -- it's always the last thing to be made

why are you not happy with her looks? it looks pretty banging hot to me - is it shoddy details about the construction that are throwing you off?
Im not sure if the problem is the lower bout being too wide - but it really HAS to be, in order to get that awesome real classic jazz tone.
If you decide you dont like her looks and just cant bear it >you can always send her my way!
Enjoy her
Cheers
Charliewood

nice! really nice!

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Thanks all- Didn't put enough lacquer on & buffed thru in a coulpe of small places on the back.. Lower bout is great, just almost impossible to find a case. Guitar center went thru their entire stock & finally found a soft case made for an acoustic bass that fit snugly. Bought it, but am not really happy with it. Need a hardshell & don't want to buy one sight unseen that I can lay the guitar in & see that it fits properly. Took it to a friends today who has been in the business a long time at the playing end. He really liked it & said I should be proud. Construction details:
I should have put a coat or two of finish on to see where the little bumps & badly sanded places were. I can live with it on this one ( as I'm the one who will be playing her) but will do that in the future. Difficult to see all the little things while still in the white that will jump at you when polished. The action is still too high at the nut & am using light strings (not ultras like I usually use) I'm going to play her as is for awhile & get back to the nut issue in a week or so. Here are a few pictures of the process:

made up a bunch of spoolie clamps-- they really help in gluing the top & bottom on



Routing fixture I made for the binding-- I need to modify it as it cut just shy of the top & bottom when fully extended.

More later

Phil,

Thanks for the process photos. The whole thing is looking pretty good! BTW, the "new guy buff-through" seems to be a rite of passage. You're not alone!

The main thing that irks me about the buff thru is that I wet sanded with 400 (tried 600 but it was going way too slow) then used rubbing compound (by hand) and then polising compound (also by hand) Just not enough lacquer on it-- I have about 5 coats-- Most likely the old lacquer had most of the solids at the bottom of the can. Will use new stuff next time. More pictures:

about 4 hours into the carving

another 10 hours into the carving process -I go slow

Another 10 hours

The f holes took about 30 minutes apiece-- Yeah I used that saw
Next time-- the body