Okay this is starting to get interesting...... I have found a new forum of mostly guitar builders that are talented and willing to help out in immeasurable ways. www.luthiercom.org very cool.... I am also documenting this build on the forum under the heading of "Here's where I am at so far".
Meanwhile - I really like the additions to the neck one of the members at the Luthier's community was nice enough to send me a generous sample of fiber material for purfling and headstock material. I used it in the heal plate lamination - black, walnut, black, spalted maple..
I really do like the look. The fiber seems to be the same material that I bought for the headstock on the Archtop.
I didn't like the maple binding with walnut purfling. I also had an issue with the results of my attempts to fill the gaps in the purfling and binding... So I decided to start from scratch - routed everything off and repalce it with maple binding and black fiber.... I like this look much better also I found a tutorial on gap filling that worked much better.... The end result isn't perfect but I am on my way and know what to watch for next time....A little more fitting on the neck joint and I'll be on to the fingerboard and neck.
