A few more pictures. Don't know how to brace the top, it's not like a normal acoustic with the sound hole. With the well the hole portion of the top is fairly stiff. So the points above and below are the flexible parts. Basically you want to limit the movement of the top trying to fold in on itself requiring a neck reset. Tied the neck block to the well which stiffened the top up. Not a heck of a lot of stress from four strings with a short scale length but I am building this so you can swap out the neck for a six string. The Back is normal ladder braced.
I think it is time for some F-holes. The first one took forty minutes to do, the second less than 20. On the first one I figured out the shape and learned how much the files took away, the second one went smoothly.
Added a pickup between the F holes. Found a piece of walnut for the fretboard. Spent quite a while getting the neck joint to the body right. The sugar pine has wide soft and hard grain lines and you end up removing too much of the soft when you want to get rid of some of the hard wood.
Also in the picture is a piece of aluminum that I want to make a resonator cover out of.
Comments
Use mushroom braces between the back and the bottom of the soundwell. Just a 1 1/2" wooden disc with a piece of 1/2" dowel in it 3" or whatever you need. Looks like a mushroom. This transfer downward pressure to the back and keeps the top from sinking. Use 4 of them.