Not much time for the workshop today

But I sandwiched in qn hour or so and got the side braces completed and a good start on the back

Notice the vertical braces on the sides.  Those are to prevent splitting and to stabilize such high sides.

With a sharp and aggressive rasp I have begun rounding off the sides.  I will round to the second pencil line.  From that point on the back will be flat.

The rasp work took only about half an hour.  Now it is time for some power tool help and this random orbital sander with 100 grit paper will smooth up a lot of surface really fast.  
Notice the air hose to the vacuum.  connected with duct tape at both ends, there is absolutely no escaping sawdust from this otherwise dusty-dusty process.

Here is what the back is going to look like.  Now I am ready to begin hogging out the excess wood from the interior side and thinning the  back.  I will begin that process on the drill press.  But first I want to make a bunch of tentalones and get them installed so I will have something to glue the back to.  
And before I put the back on I must calculate the angle of the fingerboard and attach the neck.  Still having fun with this instrument and hoping it will sound good .