Here’s the flip side of the guitar, now sealed.  The neck and core Western Flamed Maple look great!  The last time we saw the back of the guitar, there was still a lot of carving that needed to be done.  As you can see, the carving is now complete.  The transitions between the neck and peghead on the one end, and the neck and body on the other are expertly contoured.

Also, the continuous wood backplates have been reunited with the rest of the guitar.  With wood this nice, it would truly be a shame to waste it with metal backplates!  I’m going to see if Alembic has black screws instead of the stainless steel ones shown here.  I just think they’ll blend in a bit better.

A few weeks ago, I commented that this project had reached a milestone.  Today, it reaches its first moment of truth.  One of the ironies of building an instrument from scratch is that, in spite of all the advanced planning and prep work, certain fundamental qualities do not reveal themselves until well into the building process.  One of those is color.  With all the agonizing over wood selection and template placement, I still could only guess as to what the color of the instrument would be.  It is not until the wood receives its first sealer coat that the wood comes to life, and its true color is revealed.  The best I could do was to look at previous builds and try to compare the finished products with the unfinished woods used to create them.

Here’s a great shot of the final contour of the neck being hand-shaped.  The heel is almost done (it is much less blocky than the previous picture).  The back (and presumably the front) has already been routed.  You can see the electronics and battery cavities, as well as an access hole for the pickup wires to travel through.  They weren’t lying when they said sawdust would be flying in my name!

By the time I post this, carving will be complete.  The next step will be the wood sealing process, where I’ll finally get to see the finished color of the wood.  Can’t wait for that!

Here are some more pictures of the guitar, pre-carving.  Shown here is the back of the body, and a detail of the back of the peghead.  The back of the body shows how the heel of the neck is only roughed out – hand finishing is required to get the shape just right.  You can also see how the neck goes all the way through the body – a hallmark of Alembic design.  The electronics and battery plates will be continuous Coco Bolo, and have been removed for laminating.