Cross shaping and neck preparation.

The cross bracing which I glued in still needs to be formed into an arch to support the top. With a hand plane the first rough arch is shaped, starting at the sides taking of thicker layers and then slowly work inwards taking of less and less:

At the cross point I used a chisel:

When the rough shape is there, sanding paper on wooden blocks is used to sand the arch to its final shape:

The end result shows a nice arch:

Next up: the neck. This will be made out off a solid maple block. The head of the neck will be placed in an angle of 13 degrees against the neck. With this template I drew the angle on the block:

Then the process is:
Cut the block:

Then bring the small piece upside down to the other side of the block and glue it back on it. This will form the 13 degree angled head stock:

I will take care of gluing it together later on.