I started with my jointed, joined, and thinned walnut back. I traced a center line down the seam then followed it with a line on either side of the center spaced to the width of the back strip I had set aside. You can buy pre-made and pre-dimensioned back strips but I wanted to personalize my dad's guitar with spalted maple, tying it in with the custom rosette I had made for the soundboard. It took me a couple of tries to get the back strip right (spalted maple typically isn't a high quality wood - the fungus tends to break down the structural integrity of the maple). I ended up with a back strip about 3/8" wide and about 1/16" to 3/32" thick with less spalting than desired to keep it strong but enough to get the effect. Side note - it's really tough figuring out how to plane or sand a piece of wood that thin and frail!
Above you can just barely see my three lines. To set up my poor man's router jig (a clamped square), I carefully measured the distance from the cutting edge of the router bit to the edge of the router base and clamped the square to the workbench accordingly. Before you make your first cut, remember to adjust your cutting depth to no more than half the thickness of the back itself; and for Pete's sake, test it on scrap wood before you go tearing up your intended piece.
Once I made my first pass along the left edge of the back strip channel, I measured the remaining width I had to cut in the channel and moved my square that distance to the right to finish off the right side of the channel. Make sure you take your time measuring and positioning your jig, there is a lot of room for errors which could force you to find alternative back strips or even ruin your back altogether. You can see the first pass and a close up of the finished channel below.
Alright peeps, it's getting late and I need my beauty sleep so I'll finish this up tomorrow or the next day.
Peace!
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