Well, I have joined the gang of idiots who are doing this, apparently because there wasn't enough stress in my life since my daughter left for college.
I have the top and back braced at this point and am about to bend the wood for my sides; I'm making the show from scratch using black acacia (like koa) for the back and sides and spruce for the top to make a guitar like the old parlor Washburns.
Right now I am having trouble getting my top to ring the way I think it should, and I worry that I have already shaved the braces too thin.
You know how they tell you to tell when the braces are thin enough? The tap tone stops dropping lower. So how do you know it's lower enough? Also ended up with a double action truss rod, and am vacillating about using it, or going for the old single shaft of mild steel. (some of the double action ones break).
Definitely an act of love, though. I am ecstatic when something comes off, deep in gloom when it's not working.
Oh, another place you can get kits, supplies and cheaper hardware than StewMac is LMI, Luthiers Mercantile Int. in Healdsburg California.
Advice welcome.
Blessings,
Barbara