The quartersawn stuff is great, maybe a little more austere looking that the wild=child stuff, but it's still beautiful - it's wood! It is important for acoustic backs and sides, much less critical for solidbodies, but we do get plenty of requests for quartersawn wood, even in our beloved Coco Bolo variety.  
 
One thing I especially like on quartersawn material is along the rounded over edge, you can really see the structure of the tree.
 
Since we were going with a bookmatched front, we figured we try out a bookmatch back for your peghead. We've done it a few times before, but it's a fairly rare sight around here.  
 

 
The actual positions will shift a little bit, but these will be pretty close to the final placement.

they will be beautiful.

On the peghead now:
 

 
Paused briefly while cutting the shape

Great action shot!

Thanx for the action shot.  I think this is going to be a very classy looking baritone.  The tone should be killer too!

Scrapped the first top for this project - those little knots had some radiating stress fractures that we not Scott's cup of tea (I heard that mom is snagging them for her next guitar). We found a suitable replacement and continued with the building. Here's some stuff that happened since July:  

 That's the new back laminate, with the components for the continuous wood backplates resawn.  

 Moments before the neck and body become one.  

 Neck to body time!  

 The back as you saw it when you visited.

Very cool Mica!  Thanx for the pics and the wonderful visit.

I like the new lams; this is looking great!

nice. can't wait for finish. macassar ebony is still my favorite.

Lucky Scott - sealer coat yesterday - yipee!
 

 
Still miles to go, but looking sharp.

Hi Scott,  We're just about ready to drill the holes for the control on your guitar. Here's my first idea for where to locate things:  

  and with the labels removed to get another look at things:

  Note, I snatched your guitar mid-prep sanding for the next coat of finish, so don't worry about the hazy look of things here.   I tried a long string of the 5 switches and didn't really like it. I split them up to the pickup functions in one row, a little more tightly spaced and the Q switch by the filter in its logical location. The LED switch is out on the end since it's not for changing sound.   Let me know if this looks OK or if you have any other concerns or ideas. We can talk on the phone while looking at these photos if it helps.

Looking REAL sharp!

Wow, Mica! That is gonna be killer!  
 
Mica, My wife liked you folks so much she thinks, deservedly so, that Alembic rocks.  I have received no scolding  regarding my Alembic purchases.  That is a MAJOR feat/accomplishment, lol.

looks fine to me, mica

Excellent! Then we shall drill.  
 
Note that the spacing on the real thing will be measured and not the quick by-eye version I showed above. It will only look better than the plan, I promise.