I got to a stopping point because I didn't want to use the bankers box any more to route the binding/purfling channels.

It worked well in a pinch, but truth be told it's kind of a pain because it doesn't really hold the guitar securely.

So, I made a crude copy of a fixture used by the MS that I've seen in numerous factory tour videos. Theirs is a lot slicker as it uses vacuum to hold the bowl into place.

But, mine will work pretty well. It secures the bowl into place which will make working on these guitars a lot easier.

The vise is a drill-press vise clamped to the stack of plywood which is in turn, secured to the 3/4" plywood base.

The risers are adjustable, tilting furniture feet.

Here's the 1117 clamped into the fixture.

For guitars like this one which has the neck glued into place, I'm using the Stewmac neck caul on the back of the neck and the Stewmac radiused sanding block on the fingerboard. A C-clamp locks the neck in-between and the neck caul is secured in the drill press vise.

The feet are adjusted as necessary so the bowl is evenly supported.

Now, routing the binding/purfling will be a lot easier. It will also make gluing the binding and purfling a lot easier, too.

I got the binding/purfling scraped down.

I've decided that trying to get all four guitars at once is a little too much work. So, I'm going to concentrate on getting this guitar and the 1528 done. Then, I'll concentrate on the 1612 and the 1778.

So, the next job on this guitar is to mask the bridge and the body/neck and start spraying the primer/sealer.

Masking is started.

All masked up. First coat of polyurethane is on. Now, it's time to start building up the base coat in preparation for the final coats. (spray it on, sand it off -- repeat)