I almost took a picture of it. I was sooo proud. I had just completed installing the back strips on my first two guitars. Spanish cedar carefully sanded to what I felt was a nice contour.
I was a lttle curious why the strips didn't look "quite" right but hey, they were close enough. Then I noticed that they didn't really stiffen the back as I had expected but hey, I'm new at this.
Then at precisely 4AM EST today, I awoke from a dream to the sudden realization that my wife was right! I can't read maps!!
I had not only put on the back strips cross-grained, I had made them and installed them END-grain!
(North, South, East, West, with grain, cross grain, end grain, I get so confused)
So, instead of spending the day installing back bracing, I spent it carefully planing and chiselling of the back strips and installing new ones.
I sincerely hope I am not the only one to do something so totally bone-headed!
Regards, Steve Brown
PS I've gotten very good at planing end grain.
