Acoustic Guitar Construction

I am planning to build a guitar based around the Gibson AJ using J-45 plans (can't seem to find any AJ plans). The plans state that the lower bout is 16 3/32" wide. Could I use a back set that is listed at 8" wide? The 16" total width (less a little bit for jointing?) is obviously smaller than the width of the the lower bout. But I believe that the shortfall would easily be covered when installing binding. Correct?

To the best of my knowledge a J45 is 16" wide at the lower bout. At least that's the slope shoulder kit we make and sell.

Use a full-depth backstrip like Grizzly sells?

LMII states the J45 LB to be 15.9 and I scrolled down this vintage site and it appears that 16" is the number.

http://home.provide.net/~cfh/gibson6.html

Thanks for the info, Ken. I was looking at the plans here ultimate-guitar-building.com/j45-acoustic-guitar-plans I knew they weren't a great representation of the J-45, partially because they have the long scale rather then the short. But since what I really want is an AJ, which does have the long scale, I was hoping to use those. I suppose I could use J-45 plans from LMI or somewhere else, and then work out the scale changes on my own, though that scares me a little bit on my first build.

But I suppose the original question still interests me. If my back is 1/16" shy on each side, would that be a problem? That material would get removed for binding anyway, right? Peter's solution might be a better option, but I'm curious if a slightly small back would still work.

Yes adding a center strip is a very good idea.

When you cut out the back profile, you can that the sections from the waist area and join them to the lower bout to ensure you have enough width. I have done that with tops and backs. Works great and its extra insurance against the missing width being wider than the binding.