Day 34 - Shaping the saddle and the nut, putting on the strings and attaching the arm rest

I marked the machine head drill holes with a brad point, drilled the holes for the screws, and fitted the machine heads to the headstock.

I sanded the nut just thin enough to fit into place.

I sanded a 20 inch radius into the nut and shaped it to the correct height.

I shaped the saddle to fit the bridge and sanded a 20 inch radius into it.

I filed the grooves for the strings and put the strings on.

I scored the lacquer with a scalpel and glued the arm rest into place with epoxy.

I played the guitar.

Super stoked!

Day 33 - Fitting the bridge

The guitar has been lacquered to a high gloss finish.

I filed the edges of the fretboard so as to cause a break along the lacquer. This prevents the lacquer from chipping when i remove the tape.

I removed the excess lacquer from the fretboard with a scalpel.

I measured the position for the bridge and marked it with tape.

I rubbed the bridge with steel wool to give it a satin finish.

I scored the lacquer around the bridge.

I removed the lacquer from the area where the bridge will go.

I made cauls for the bridge.

I clamped the bridge to the soundboard using the bridge caul that i had made previously for under the soundboard as well as the top bridge cauls.

Day 32 - Inserting fret markers, shaping frets, and final sanding.

I measured and marked the fret marker locations and then created indentations with a brad point.

I drilled the holes for the fret markers.

I inserted and glued the fret markets and then sanded then smooth.

I filed the frets with a fret-crowning file until they had a rounded, curved top.

I filed the ends of the frets to make them smooth.

I filled the joint between the heel cap and the body with epoxy.

I sanded the whole guitar down in incremental stages from 80, 120, 180, 240, and 320-grained sand-paper.

Day 31 - Cutting the sound port and filing the headstock

I glued the heel cap to the bottom of the heel.

I shaped the headstock so that the strings will not touch the wood between the nut and the tuning keys.

I created a cardboard template for where the sound port will go.

I dried holes to create a rough cut of the sound port.

I smoothed the sound port with a drum sander attached to a drill.

Bonus! I can see inside the guitar through the sound port.

There was a small gap between the side and the binding so I filled this with epoxy and rosewood dust.

I filled the gaps under the frets with epoxy and ebony dust.