So...the progress has slowed down to a grinding crawl. However, still trying to devote a little bit of time here and there for a Thanksgiving Project Completion! And my son, somehow discovered this secret project...man, how do they "find me out" like that? Lol, anyway, I was able to squeeze in some time to get the main neck block space routed into the filled neck joint area of the bowl. Needed a small jig to keep my router straight and true...

This little jig is clamped into place (sorry about the low-res photo) through the epaulets. Clear acrylic jigs enable me to see my work more accurately. The aluminum bars are guides that keep my router (Dremel) in-line.

I practiced a bunch on some wood blanks, but this Smooth-on stuff is pretty hard. I had to set my Dremel to the highest setting and go slow. I had forgotten how unforgiving a router can be and on my first pass, I tried to take-off too much and lost control of the tool and almost hacked this poor CC247 into oblivion! Fortunately, the damage was minimal, and I was able to continue without major incident...whew, scary! Once my nerves settled down, I got back to work...shallow, slow, very slow cuts. What a dummy, that's what I made the jig for! talk about an amatuer!

After final sanding and smoothing the neck block fit just right. You can tell the alignment is much better in this next pic. It also shows how far the alignment was off for the original assembly. No wonder why the previous owners neck reset failed.

So, my next challenge is to cut the mortise into this little block. I'll need to make another jig for that, and also think of a good clamping strategy to make sure I get the neck secure. The bolt-on neck configuration is really going to make a world of a difference! As Christmas season approaches, I'm thinking this might be a good "O" for a Christmas performance! After that, I know my son is going to ask if he can have it! I'm thinking I'll offer a 1 to 1 fair trade for his black 1861! Would that be taking unfair advantage of my son? Naw..., whoohoo...getting closer...

Thanks BanjoJ!

Couldn't get any sleep tonight, so took a few steps forward again. Decided to finish up the neck joint completely. Per DanSavages advice, I went ahead and used an Auger bit to drill the insert holes and installed the steel inserts into the neck tenon joint...

I made sure to squeeze the tenon joint with clamps as I screwed in the inserts, but the joint cracked ever so slightly when I installed the lower insert anyway! Oops. The crack was pretty small so I filled it with super low viscosity CA glue...

Everything lined up pretty well...

Finished the block and joint with some light sanding and flat black finish (used polyurethane automobile touch-up paint). Finally, verified bolt length and alignment...

It looks like 3.0cm bolts are going to work the best. Cool! Now, if I could just route the mortise and drill the holes in the bowl correctly, this is all going to come together rather nicely! Okay, time to catch some Z's...

Before routing the mortise, I needed to drill the neck bolt holes in the bowl. With concise caliper measurements of the neck block, I made a simple foldable drilling jig out of cardboard with clear markings (on both sides) for the center lines and bolt holes...

taped it on to the bowl with precise positioning...

folded it over...

verified alignment...

setup the Dremmel with proper alignment...

verified alignment, and drilled small accurate guide holes for the Auger bit (actually, I realized latter that Dansavage said "Forstner bit" but I actually went out and mistakenly bought Auger bits, oops)...

I finished the drilling with a 6.5mm Augers bit, and removed the cardboard jig...

proceeded to the routing... there wasn't a lot of flat space for a routing jig; and so, I decided to go with a freehand route using the routing guide from my circle cutter...

set-up the tool...

and cut the mortise...go slow and shallow, slow and shallow...

after many passes, I finally got it done. I'm pretty happy with my first ever mortise joint.

Then the neck heel needed to be shaped for final fitting, the sandpaper is reinforced on the back with thick clear packing tape. With the neck in proper position, I pull the tape out from the heel and sand it down to the exact shape of the bowl...

checked by dry fitting and repeated...warning, patience tester here...

then checked my neck angle. Ahhh, perfect...

and proceeded to final fitting and gluing. I had to do a bunch of clamping dry runs to ensure this was going to work, okay. Man, these Elite type guitar necks are hard to secure with clamping (oops, sorry about the "out of focus" picture)!

I used ZAP 30 minute epoxy (from my 1117-4 project) to glue the neck to the sound board (no glue on the heel of the neck please!). The neck was secured tightly and once the clamps were in place, I loosened the bolts just a tad. Everything fit just perfectly and the neck is now completely in line! Yay!

And now, for the treacherous 72 hour wait! Don't touch the guitar, Ken. Don't touch the guitar! Can't wait to string her up and give her a spin! I'm not quite done yet; but man, I am so thankful for all of your help and encouragement! OFC/BFLG you are so awesome! Thank you, thank you, Domo Arigatou!

Well, I strung up the CC247, adjusted the truss rod, and left it for several hours to see how the neck settled in. Don't particularly care for these small radius and thin 1&11/16" (@ nut) necks. It feels too cramped up... like they were really going after the electric guitarists with these Asian models. Anyway, I really like regular gauge strings on all my acoustics (usually D'Addario EJ12 80/20 Bronze) and the action at the 12 fret is right at 2mm...

The neck went on really straight...

Looking through the epaulets, you can tell something is different about this Celebrity! The bolts really secure the neck in place quite reliably. For some, it may seem to make the guitar a tad heavier, but it is hardly noticeable.

I'm kind of getting fond of this GS color scheme too. The regular gauge strings usually tend to give the guitar a thicker voice, but this Celebrity rings like a bell even with regular gauge strings. She's also quite a canon, and I really like the OP24+ pre-amp as it provides mellower sound options.

As it turns out, I'm going to need to run through and do a general tune up as the nut needs to be cut down just a bit, and general fret maintenance is needed. But at this point the intonation is in order; and while she's no Nakao USA NH Elite, she still sounds pretty good. Just really surprised about the "ringy" bell like sound of the guitar. I wonder if its because of the laminated top? Not that the mid and bass punch aren't there, just a real emphasis on the high-frequency resonance - unexpected... Anyway, thanks for all of your encouragement and comments, I'll definitely be using this for a Christmas performance. Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to all of you at the OFC! So thankful to be a part of this cool round back community!