Hi Erik,
 
This is the place where we'll be updating you on your guitar's progress. If you've got any questions or comments about anything you see here, please post a reply or give us a call.

Here's the piece we selected for the core:

   And a closeup of the same:

   We'll be reviewing a new shipment of Maple cores by Friday. These dried billets are apparently some of the best he's prepared for us, so we're holding off the glue-up until we see what shows up.

Fir this projeect, we needed a visual example of how the different thicknesses of accent laminates would look, so Chip made these two glueups to help Erik decide:  

 standard size 1/8" accent laminate in Ebony  

 Two smaller accent laminates in Ebony and Walnut with a Maple veneer.    When compared side by side:

 Erik picked the thinner laminates - it was the favorite here, too.

I think the second looks nice too!  But the first one is sonically tempting !

I also think the second one looks better; however, I think an even better option (assuming triple accent laminates) would be to either (A) put purpleheart where the walnut is, and walnut where the (middle) maple is; OR (B) have the outer (of the 3 accents) BOTH be ebony OR purpleheart -with the walnut in the middle.
 
Having vermillion BETWEEN two ebony accent lams would probably look pretty bitchin', too... but perhaps that would be TOO colorful for what you have in mind.

why not just two ebony lam's with a little maple pinstripe in there? best of both worlds, no?

I like the second one too. The wood colors look GREAT together.

Yeah, the second one looks better.But i think if both were completed, the first one would look just as good in it's own right.

Does having an ebony accent laminate in the body affect the tone as much as having ebony in the neck?  Just curious.

Jorge; I would think if this is a neck through guitar, then no, a body laminate would probably not affect tone as much as a neck laminate.

Mica,  
Any update on the new shipment of maple cores and/or progress report?
Thank you,  
Erik

Here's a closeup of the neck pair:

  And another of the neck laminates all gluey:

Some more work on the neck:

  On the back with rough bandsaw cuts:

  What will be under the nut and fingerboard:

  Where the bookmatch to center is fitted:

  And the plate cutouts - truss rod cover, humcanceller cover, battery backplate, preamp backplate, harness backplate:

  Also the top bookmatch to center coming together:

looks encouraging, thank you!

... and the lollipop, would that be cherry?
 
We need to see more of that top, soon - looks very special.