Thanks for the compliments everyone! I really appreciate that.
By the way, if anyone else decides they want to do something like this, I don't think I would ever do it again. It took a LOT of time to get the bands on and more time trying to get them to lay as flat as possible. I think Creighton's idea would work well because you could just butt up the matchbook covers against each other. What was so hard about this was layering the bands in a way that covered the shell without covering too many features of the other bands.
Jeff recommended, and it worked very well, that I water down some wood glue and suck it into a syringe to get glue behind any bands that had air bubbles behind them. In most cases, I was able to get behind the bands without poking any holes, but the holes that I had to make are tiny and not noticeable. It took a good bit of time over several sittings, and it didn't make everything lay perfectly flat, but it worked very well. I found that this is also a nice little trick to get glue in tiny spaces, such as the tiny gaps where reinforcement rings pull away from a shell.
Il bet the guys at the cigar shop thought it was pretty darn cool!Lynn, dont forget to let that baby cure for another month before you play it hard. That finish is with in its specs but still pretty thick.
They sure did like it. They offered to display it. ;) I said I'd have to think about it. Laughing H They are going to post pictures on their Facebook page.
I will definitely let it cure a while before I bring it out anywhere to play. I'm just showing it off for now...hauling it around in a case.
Lynn