Acoustic Guitar Construction

You'll be adding more coats of seal any how. Be aware and I think you are, that final finishing does not hide flaws it actually amplifies them.

thanks Ken, am getting the idea, just watching videos on sharpening scrapers. . .

is the headstock veneer a necessary part of the contruction, any tips on shaping the rough headstock? I could copy my SJ but i'd rather have straight sides like this

I think some Gibson and others just have a thick coat of black lacquer. Tips -- sky is the limit, just look around out there. Make sure the finger-board and nut blend well.

so instead of the nut sitting in a slot made by cutting away the veneer I will just cut a slot in the mahogany neck it's self? I'd like to leave off the veneer in the gibson style but not if it's going to make seating the nut at the end of the FB more tricky?

I'm assuming I'm putting my FB dots in after trimming but before fretting and attaching to the neck?

In either of your senerios you'd have a real mess since the neck and fingerboard are designed/made so that the nut sits on the finger-board plane not the peghead.

so the sawing through the headstock veneer in the instructions is just trimming the excess of the veneer which has overlapped onto the FB plane, am i understanding that correctly?