This instrument isn't perfect, but perfection was never in my wheelhouse.

It has a reclaimed redwood top and maple sides/back with random rosewood scraps as the headstock cap and tail wedge. I like the bindingless look, and it makes everything easier.

Nitrocellulose lacquer is my favorite finish, but the spray booth I have access to was/is being moved, so I used General Finishes water-based varnish. It wasn't great and I should have used endurovar. It looks okay after 2 hours of polishing. (One of the reasons I like lacquer is that it requires not a lot of buffing/polishing.)

The engraved rosette is a narrow floral pattern (not my instrument, I didn't decide what went on it), and it got white buffing compound in it. It actually looked good, so I left it instead of trying to dig it out with a needle.

I started with a premade neck and designed a cnc cut neck block which fit after 6 attempts. Everything usually starts as raw wood, but a friend gave me the sides already bent and glued together.

This Fab Lab has luthiers with decades of experiance, and we encourage technology and traditional methods as valid means to an end. Some things are easier with technology (like laser cut pieces, inlays, CNC cut necks, etc.), and some thinks are easier by hand (like using a chisel to quickly approximate a roundover).

Anyhow, it's not that bad for someone who is too young to drive and built this for fun during the first month of summer vacation.