I finished shaping the neck and head (poplar), and glued down the fingerboard (mahogany). I'm pretty stoked on the two-tone grain of the fingerboard, and not so stoked on the accidental kerf left by the table saw on the left side of the headstock... poplar Duco, anyone?
For my bridge, I dug through a couple old tool boxes full of hardware left over from random jobsites. I found this steel strike plate and attached it to the tailpiece using two panhead screws to pin it down inside the mortise opening. The nice thing is that the tab (unseen in the pic, sorry) can be adjusted by bending it up or down. This feature, originally designed to allow easy door adjustment, makes it possible for me to adjust the action from the bridge side pretty easily. Also, since the panheads secure the bridge without actually penetrating the metal, I can pop the bridge out simply by loosening the screws a small amount.
I noticed in researching CBG's that some people have a hard time keeping the strings from digging into the wood. I think I'll be ok behind the bridge, but I am a bit worried about the ball ends of the strings slowly working their way into the holes in the back of the tailpiece. I solved this problem (I think) by cutting out a piece of an A-? bracket left over from a house we framed last year. Oddly enough, the layout of the holes is perfect for spacing 4 strings evenly across the fretboard, and they are smaller than the ball ends on most strings.
I should be able to finish everything but the fretting tomorrow. I can't wait to play it, although I'm not getting my hopes up that it will sound good... at least it looks pretty sweet though. Also, any ideas on finishes would be greatly appreciated. I was thinking just some mineral oil might do the trick...
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