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.