layout of the top plate

 Time to start looking at the top plate.  I googled ideas for top bracing patterns and picked one out.

I sawed a bunch of brace wood from my stock on hand.  It's all about 1/4" x 3/4" now with lengths up to 22".  I have another 1x piece that can be ripped later as necessary for future builds.

I also grabbed a 1/16" thick piece of wood 3" wide and cut it square.  I took that to the drill press and drilled a 2" diameter hole.  I enlarged that hole by about 1/8" at the spindle sander and then took the piece to the jigsaw to cut it into a circle.  Did a little cleanup at the disk sander and it's ready to be a backing support piece for the sound hole.  The sound hole will be 2".  I also laid out on the cedar top the location I decided on for the sound hole.

I also laid out the location for the bracing.  The feet of the bridge will sit on the intersection points of the H bracing.  The bracing will get notched and the bottom radiused to 25 feet to keep a tiny bit of arch in the top for strength and tension, which helps with the sound.

I sanded the braces to the 25 foot radius right on the radius dish, which has sand paper glued to the surface.  Since I need to ensure the entire bottom gets sanded to shape it's easiest to draw a pencil line on the bottom surface and sand until it's gone.

Nothing is glued yet, and the braces will need to be carved to reduce weight and get a "tap tone" that I like.  It's kind of like, carve a little, tap the top to get an idea of resonance, then carve a little more and repeat until you're happy or you maybe start to lose tone.  Then STOP!

It's starting to look like an instrument and getting kind of exciting!  Plenty more to go though with the glue up, fret board and neck work, and finishing; but I'm starting to see the finish line.

Brian