finishing up the build and ready to add some color!

finishing up the build and getting ready to apply the sunburst finish.

Dovetail ready for final fit.

Testing the fit.

After the neck has been shaped.

Slothead.

A pretty good fit.

Branded.

Outside in.

The first step in the sunburst is clear to work out any bugs.

Clear on the neck.

Masking off the goodies in prep for some color.

First step is a nice coat of amber.

Then we shade in some reddish brown.

We call this unwrapping the candy but I should have snapped another after shading the darker brown. The light shows much more contrast than is actually there.

The back after the unwrap.

And the shaded neck. The guitar now has two coats of clear lacquer over the color so tomorrow I can lightly sand and spray a few more before getting aggressive with the sanding once again.

All buffed up and ready to join the neck and sound box.

The neck is being glued on.

Lalith's LBC continues....

An LBC of Mahogany and Red Spruce, This one is going to have a slightly deeper soundbox, by 1/2" or so for a fuller bottom, but not so much as to let the tone get flabby.

Glueing in the linings.

The top is ready to attach.

Glueing on the back.

One last peek inside.

binding the top

Top is bound.

The headplate clamped on the neck.

Lalith's LBC

An LBC of Mahogany and Red Spruce, This one is going to have a slightly deeper soundbox, by 1/2" or so for a fuller bottom, but not so much as to let the tone get flabby.

Joining the mahogany back halves together.

Getting the sides ready for the bender.

The sides get sandwiched between a pair of stainless steel slats and then a heating blanket and galvanised steel supports the whole thing as it gets put into the bender.

It is heating up now. I start the bend at around the boiling point of water and slowly lock it down.

All clamped down and cooking. I get it up to about 325 degrees and then do a slow controlled cool down and then it should be ready to go.

Here I am glueing on the Bridge patch, it looks a little different in a ladder braced guitar that an x-braced one huh?

This is the string ball protector going on.

The Rosette has been installed

The sides have been bent and clamped into the form with blocks at each end. It is now a guitar shaped object!!

The top is all braced up and really, ready to go.

The top from the outside.

Adding a little color to the inside.

Here is the back all braced up.

TAMCO XBGC Finishing

TAMCO XBGC Mahogany & Red Spruce