I snuck in a little more guitar work yesterday in between playing teacher and working on some floating shelves.

Speed holes. The mahogany body was 5lb 11oz and this dropped about 18oz. I used to own a 12lb Les Paul and as much as I loved the tone of the thing, I very much did not like wearing it...or carrying it.

A5315F08-1C53-46CD-9B1F-7FA3447D8242_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr

This is thermally processed maple from a local place. It's much darker in color that a lot of the roasted maple I've had for making necks. This is going to be under paint, but I chose a board with a little flame to it because it was in the stack and I thought it would be a fun secret. Theoretically, it's more stable, not that it will matter much as a top. It will be glued down with hot hide glue and has the potential to be a big nightmare with this much surface area. I'm going to have to do it inside because it'll gel too quickly in my shop and will likely have to get a little help from my better half to get the clamps on before it gels too much. Seriously considering leaving the pieces in a warm oven for a while before applying the glue. Will be working out the clamp positions and sequence today so we have a plan for tomorrow.

The other option is to try to vacuum bag it...only I currently have a hand pump which will certainly not get it clamped in time. A close friend of mine designs systems for scanning electron microscopes and might be bringing home a pump for me today. He's always working on something with insanely high voltage inside a vacuum chamber and if he's able to find some surplus, I'm sure it'll be ridiculous. It's amazing to have your regular riding buddy work in such a high tech industry and I have been the beneficiary of some extremely interesting "trash"

D794276A-10CF-419B-9BD0-E93348143D2E_1_105_c by Sean Chaney, on Flickr