After contemplating the initial control layout shown last week, I was able to give some more refined direction to Mica, and the result is shown above.  I explained that I could not accurately make any location decisions without seeing the guitar from directly overhead (the angled photos were skewing my perception a little too much).  Additionally, I requested that she place a bridge and tailpiece on the guitar, exactly in place, so I could better orient where my hand would actually be when playing.  Again, these are (quite obviously) not the bridge and tailpiece that will be on the finished instrument.  These extra points of reference have helped tremendously, so we’ll keep this system going as we perfect the positioning.

For this round, I asked that the two MIDI buttons get placed in line with the two upper knobs, centered.  The other request I made was for the three small switches to follow the contour of the guitar.  Mica placed them further away from the pickup selector than I ‘d intended (we’re still trying different things), but at least I can check out some alternative layouts before making a final, irreversible decision.

It’s been several months since the last update, but in that time, some important things have happened.  For one thing, the guitar now has about 10 coats of sealer on it, which means there’s probably another 10 or so to go before it can be buffed.  Half way through the sealing process is often when any final drilling/routing occurs.  This is so even the insides of the  holes for the controls are properly sealed.  Any body inlay work would get done at this time as well, so the artwork won’t have a ton of sealer over it.  In the last few months, I’ve also had time to think about the inlay work, and have given some direction to Susan, Alembic’s matriarch and chief artist.  I’m hoping to have some artwork to look at soon…

The knob locations were first mocked up back in July, months before the body completed.  This was mostly to make sure all the electronics would fit in the instrument.  Now that we have the actual guitar to mock up, hardware is simply placed directly on the instrument, so I can see where all the controls will fall with regard to shape, wood grain, etc.  What you see here is Mica’s first pass at control placement.  Please note that none of the hardware shown here is what will ultimately be on the guitar.  They are only used as position indicators – in other words, these aren’t what the knobs, buttons, and switches will in truth look like when the guitar is done!