Concept:
Basically a thinline electric/acoustic guitar. The brief for this guitar was for an instrument that would give an acoustic-like sound for the most part with the possibility of more traditional electric sounds for short jazzy lead lines.

This is what we've got. The body shape is reminiscent of a Les Paul, although its been more 'acousticised'. Its more rounded and is generally bigger. The body will be two part - a back and a top, both of mahogany. The back will be partially hollow to give a better response for the acoustic sound (see dotted line in the sketch on the right). The front of the body will be bound in cream binding and the rear will be rounded over..

The neck will also be mahogany (one-piece) and will be glued in. The fingerboard will be rosewood and will also be bound in cream.

The bridge will be a standard acoustic style bridge, although the strings will be secured through the body. A piezo under-saddle pickup linked to an onboard preamp will take care of the acoustic side of the sound. The electric sound will be sorted by installing a mini-humbucker at the end of the neck.

Wiring harness will be similar to a Les Paul. A separate volume and tone for both the piezo and the mini-humbucker. A 3-way toggle switch will select either the acoustic or electric sound or a combination of both (post preamp for the piezo).

Finish will be clear lacquer. Hardware will be gold. Fingerboard position inlays will be abalone. The owner is considering a headstock inlay but is undecided at the time of writing.

'Leggaro' is the name decided for this (that's Italian for 'Light' and its pronounced lej-jairo in your best Italian accent).

Overview:
• Semi-hollow, thinline electric guitar in mahogany.
• 21 fret, rosewood fingerboard on mahogany neck.
• Acoustic-style bridge with undersaddle piezo pickup.
• Fishman Natural 1, piezo pickup and preamp for acoustic.
• Mini-Humbucker for electric.
• 3-Way toggle and separate volume/tone for each.
• Lacquer finish

Update 1:
This body begins life as two pieces of mahogany. The thicker piece will be the back and the thinner will be the top. Once they are planed to the correct thickness, they are both band-sawed to the rough shape.

The back is then routed quite significantly to give the semi-hollow feel. You can see how much wood is taken out (refer to the dotted line on the sketch above too).

The shape of the acoustic chamber is intended to provide some airiness in the treble range while keeping the bass a bit more solid.

When the internal routing has been completed, the top can be glued to the back. The picture on the right shows the top and back being glued. The clamps will remain in place until the glue has completely cured and the body can then be 'tidied up'.

The body sides will be filed and sanded from the rough-sawn finish they currently have. The rear edges will be rounded over and the top can have a channel cut for installation of the binding.

Update 3:
OK. A bit more work has taken place on the body. The whole thing has been cleaned up and all of the rough edges taken off.

The binding has been fitted as you can see. Also visible are the mounting hole for the mini-humbucker pickup and the slot for the neck tenon.

Control mountings (switch/vol/tone) will be next. Final bridge position will be determined exactly after the neck has been fitted.