Mark's Beginning guitar construction on a shoestring...blog post #1

I've started my first guitar. Actually, I started it over thirty odd years ago, but for one reason or another, I set it aside for a moment to accomplish some other things. Now, the time and opportunity have coalesced to bring this project farther along. I long ago and at various times have collected an assortment of woods, tools and know-how. The spruce top I joined first, back in the seventies. Some other parts came from a second-hand kit I picked up along the way, abandoned by it's first owner. These parts included rosewood sides and back and mahogany neck, semi pre-shaped. The sides were bent and the back sized to make a dreadnaught, but I decided to build a small body cutaway. The back was already joined and thicknessed, with a dado channel for the back trim stripe. I rebent the sides to suit my design and milled 'found' whole abalone shell to make a trim stripe for the back and the top rosette. The rosette was a subproject that I didn't want to tackle, but finally overcame my resistance and dove in. It turned out well I think, and though I'd do some things differently, I learned a lot. This first blog post will pick up the project where I recently (May 2009) revived a long dormant desire, beginning with the rosette. I'm doing this on a shoestring, and kind of winging it; I'm not aiming for the gold standard of craftsmanship with this first learning attempt, I have a tolerance for imperfection that I'm comfortable with while still upholding a reasonable standard of proof-in-the-pudding. I expect this guitar to look and sound and play great when it's finished, but watching me make it will be like watching sausage being made. Below are photos of the rosette in progress. A bwb inner band, followed by a rosewood circle, a ring of abalone shell I found here at the coast where I live, another ring of rosewood and finally another outer bwb band . Assembled on a board jig suggested by David Russell Young in his book (which has some serious drawbacks), using clear epoxy glue.