This is the process almost from the begining..

this blank is the starting point.. lightweight very well dried pine with flame maple stringers will give us the stability and tone we need so desperately with these guitars..

the template is marked in place and roughly cut out on the bandsaw

this gives me a more manageable area as I plane the top flat

Once the top is perfectly flat I re-cut around the body as close to the line as possible 

and then using a bearing cutter and the template I cut the final outline

several hours of dust later the back shape is roughly carved

and then sanded, just to 80 grit with the random orbital sander to even out the carve

the cutaway is tidied up with the bobbin sander

and here is a blurry picture after sanding sealer is applied to protect it just a little

next up the pillar drill is set up.  I measure a 3mm distance between the doodad (technical terminology!) and where the drill bit stops. 

this means that after drilling through I know that the drill has stopped exactly 3mm away from the back at any point.  It gives me something to carve to

when I start hollowing her out..

after another 6 and a bit hours I'm at this stage.  Basically the whole thing is about 3.5mm thick.. which is still a bit too much.

the hard bit is here now, using miniature violin makers planes.. which have two shortcomings, use them for more than five minutes and you get cramp in your hand from manipulating something that small... and if you grit your teeth and work through the cramp pretty soon the friction heats the brass up and you're holding a very hot piece of metal.. .. I love my job! 

the side soundhole and cavity for the Fishman system are marked out

and then cut..

and filed then sanded to an almost finished state.. 

the most time consuming, and painful, part of this job is tidying up the inside of the bowl-back.. but it will be done every now and then throughout the job until everything is ready to become an almost-guitar

finally the compressor is brought out and a mini random orbital sander is used to get to the hard to reach spots inside the bowl.. several hours and a lot of hand-sanding thrown in and I get the result required..

on to the top