I have gotten a lot of work done since I last posted. I did not make any updtaes here because my choices were to do the work on my guitar that I got done, or get half as much done and blog about it. I chose the former.
Let me bring you up to speed.

In my last post I had fitted the neck ahead of schedule but it all worked out. Before that I was fitting and gluing in the end wedge. Well, I have since scraped the end wedge flush with the rim and it looks great. I neglected to take a picture of it, but trust me. There are enough pics in this post anyway.Here you can see I cut the stepped
channel for the binding and
purfling. The back plate only gets
binding. It does not need
the beautification of purfling.
It does wish it had it though.

I also borrowed a router from a friend and went to work cutting the "rebates" for the binding and purfling. As I mentioned, purfling is partly there for decoration and partly there to protect the edge of the guitar. Same goes for the binding. There are many options out there for binding and purfling. I went with a herringbone patterned purfling that is commonly found on a Martin HD-28 which is a $2500 guitar that still uses a plastic binding. On my guitar, instead of the plastic binding, I am using a flamed or curly maple binding. Binding with wood like I am doing is a little more difficult but looks so dang good!!
Here is a shot of the rebate on the back
plate. You can also see
my side port in this shot.
I used some thin maple
to bind the edges of the port
just to make it look pretty.
And because I can.

Cutting the rebates is a daunting task because the guitar is not flat. If this was just a box with 90 degree angles between the top and sides and back and sides, it would be pretty easy to follow the curves to rout the channels. But its not. In addition to it not being square, the angle of the rim to the sides changes as you go around the guitar. Routers are not designed to make this kind of cut. Click here for a great explanation of this fact. At least not uniformly, which I needed the cuts to be. KMG makes an attachment that they send with the kit that addresses this issue. Ken, the owner, can explain how the attachment works much better than I can, so click this link to read all about it. KMG Binding Attachment.

I am now up to the installation of the bindings and in these pics, you can see that I have installed one of the back binding strips. That's why there is a truck load of blue painters tape all over one edge of the guitar. The rubber band is around the waist of the guitar because I needed some extra pressure on the binding there to keep it tight to the side. I told you wood binding was more difficult than plastic. Plastic just bends right in and you only need tape to hold it while the glue dries. The rubber band is there because the guitar
said it makes her look thinner if
she wears a belt. Women!!

Now I just have to install three more binding strips and two purfling strips and I am done. Well...not exactly. I will have plenty more to do. I have to scrape the bindings flush and that is sure to take a bit of time. But I am not out to win a race with this build. Originally I was racing, but when I realized I was the only one in the race, I knew I could go as slow as I wanted and still win. I am totally winning!