Kerfed Lining Complete...

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All of the kerfing and side straps are complete.  The side straps will help reinforce the sides and help protect them from splitting.  In the picture to the right you can see where the guitar neck lines up (marked in pencil).

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The next step will be to resand the edges to get the profile where I want it.  You can see in the pictures how the kerfing was intentionally glued on just a touch proud (high) of flush with the side edges.  All of this will get sanded down in preparation for the bear claw top and makore back.  When sanding this time, I'll need to be more precise as the angle of top plate will predict the outcome of my neck angle.

The neck set angle is critical for a successful finished outcome.  It will define the height of the strings (distance from the soundboard) from the nut to the bridge.  I want to get this as close to perfect as I can, so this next sanding step will likely go slow and easy for me.

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Polished Paua Abalone shell in
raw form.

As a side note... I'm waiting for my paua abalone shell to arrive.  I'll be using it for my purflings (decorative edge around the edge of the top) and rosette (decorative around the sound hole).  My abalone will be arriving in straight strips:

Width = 3.17mm x Length = 25.4mm x Thickness = 1.3mm.

I have an idea for my rosette but I have to draw it up to see if I can make it work.

I'm still undecided on my binding yet, but I'm leaning towards tortoise shell binding.  I like the look of it, but also like the idea of a solid wood binding.  There's still time to think about binding, but I've got to get my rosette design locked down.  It'll soon be time to install it onto the face of my guitar.