Hi everyone!

I posted some photos of my first build in an album on my page. It's a work in progress. I'm calling it a "C-28," because today I was working on it and I thought, "Well, it's not a D-28." I'd appreciate any constructive criticism you may have to offer.

The box seems to be made of cedar, and came painted a dark brown. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but it's growing on me. The sides and top of the box are ~3/8" thick, and the back is ~1/8" thick, so I'm using the box "upside down". The back is my soundboard. I'm hoping the lighter wood will vibrate more for a nice acoustic tone. Also, the neck is not attached to the soundboard at all. It's attached to the 2 sides of the box. Again, I'm hoping for the top to vibrate nicely.

I found the neck on eBay recently. It's from a tenor banjo, and I think it's maple. I'm not sure what the fretboard wood is. It's not ebony or rosewood. It has a bar that would've run through the ring of the banjo. The neck is V shaped, and I tried to sand down the V a little for a more rounded feel. Maple is harder than I thought, so I didn't get very far.

Originally the heel was cut and angled to fit a specific shape. I carved it to a 90 angle so it would fit against the box nicely. I didn't get as clean a neck/box joint as I would've liked. If anyone has suggestions for smoothing out the end of the neck/heel, I'd be grateful. Check my pictures and you'll see what I mean.

I was able to carve square square holes on each side of the box, and fit the bar through the box. This wasn't as easy as you may thing, because the bar is tapered, and not parallel to the neck. It's angled, so it took some time to layout the holes correctly. The string end piece is then screwed into the end of the bar. This seemed like a good idea so that I didn't have to worry about bracing the box, yet.

I have a ukulele bridge with a bone saddle, and medium gauge banjo strings. I'm hoping to cut F sound holes, but that may be a little ambitious on my part.

Again, if anyone has thoughts, please feel free!