John How's X-braced concert guitar

Some time ago I was lucky enough to win a really nice set of Curly Claro Walnut from my friend Bob Cefalu of RC & Sons tonewood. He does this about once a month in a drawing. I figured that since this set of wood was a gift from Bob, I should build myself a guitar with it. I looked around for a suitable top and found a beautiful set of sinker rosewood. Walnut and Redwood is one of my favorite combo's so here is the story of my new guitar.

Specs:
How Concert size, 13.5" wide
Scale 24.9"
13 fret neck joint
X-braced
Sinker redwood top
Curly Claro Walnut back & sides
Mahogany neck
Madagascar Rosewood fingerboard, Bridge & headstock
Curly walnut bindings with maple & Walnut purflings with maple side purflings
Addy Spruce braces on the top & Mahogany braces on the back
The bindings on thos guitar are almost 1/4" wide so that I can use a 1/8" radius bit to round over the guitars edge for a very comfortable feel when paying it. It will be finished in clear gloss, no burst on this one. The tuner buttons will be matching curly walnut.

Joining the redwood top


Joining the walnut back


Prepairing the sides for bending






Loading the side bender


Hooking it up and heating it up


The side is bent and cooking a bit


Fresh from the bender








Clamping in the blocks







Some colorful side crack control, hopefully just for looks


Clamping on some braces to stiffen up that top


Clamping the top to the sides


Bracing the back


Adding some braces around the sound hole


Shaping the back braces


Bindings and purfling strips all bent and ready for instalation


Shaping the neck




Finishing up the back with a label and a reinforcement strip


The box from the top with purflings and bindings freshly attached


The back before binding


Neck and fingerboard