Post 37: Cutout for magnetic pickup, bent tuners plate

     Today I cut out the hole in the front plate to fit the magnetic pickup and notched the neck tube to fit it in. 

       I also bent the part of the front plate where the tuners will be attached. I then cut an oval aluminum plate to fit around the bridge pieces. It looks like the tuners could be moved closer to the bridge, within the body shape. The wooden bridge will have to be flattened and raised to match the aluminum fingerboard.

     I tested the flexibility of the neck and there seems to be some give, probably because the notch for the pickup ended up deeper than expected. There are two possible options: add square tubing sections bolted on each side of the notch in the neck to stiffen it. The other is to install two truss rods.