Acoustic Guitar Construction

How we fix mistakes is to back up past the error, do the right thing, and carry on. That way the error ceases to exist and there's no messing with workarounds. Take the top off, make a new one, and resume building. Nothing else has errors that need correcting.

With absolutely no proof - - - - yes. I think the comparison of reflectivity vs. resonance approaches the religious.

Well, why not? Enjoy!

Good going. Discovering the voice of a finished project is always a revelation to me.

Perhaps you can recover some height by installing the kerfing proud of the rim. The sides are going to be routed away for the binding and the sides won't be left anyway above the level of the binding.

I've built a few with the lower bout x-braced. My notion was to preserve a dome in the back and not revert to a cylindrical shape. Seems to work for me, and maybe the additional stiffness would help your 'supple' back without leaving it too thick, as John suggested.

I've built two. Figuring (hah!) that I had some headroom by using 6-string conservative bracing and adding an eighth to the (now 5/8") x-braces, I set to work. Both turned out wonderfully. DON'T OVERBUILD. You probably are already overbuilding your 6-strings and factory guitar should not be use...