I realize the 'laminating' comment was cryptic. the design changes are as such:
-better geometry at the headstock, moving the E tuners outward by about 3-4mm
-utilizing a one piece tele-style bridge w/ HB pickup opening
-using the thinner 5/8" billet
-laminating a 1/8" billet under the fretboard to raise that (eliminating a machining step)
-laminating a 1/8" spacer under the tuners, so the headstock can be machined to 3/8" thick with better string break angle
-purpose built body (birch/walnut)-tele style.

The big technical change is machining the openings and weight relief areas, rather than drilling/cutting. Should make for a much more 'commercial' looking finished product.

last night was our record release show, and going to a hockey game tonight...so will try to catch up and finish a few more steps on Sunday.

Here's how it looked in person last night at the roller rink (2nd pick is a closer view of Jury and the guitar):

had a couple good hours to cut/route/drill. aside from my drill press trying to shit the bed, everything went pretty well this week. here is the overall. The blue color is layout fluid, which allows me to scribe pretty fine lines that stand out better than sharpie.

here is the headstock- slot is machined rather than cut- much neater. Yes, the bass side was drilled about 1/8" off and I'll need to come up w/ a solution. math is hard

here is the rear weight relief cavity- I could only roughly machine this as I'm waiting for the correct pattern following bit. but it went well, will not require a dumb cover, and took out about 3oz. the blank weighed 8/14, we're down to 5/9 as it sits.

And here is the body blank- Walnut and Birch. this is over 8 lbs as it sits...way heavier than I had hoped. will be routing away a lot of wood, but still, this might be pretty stout.

Progress has slowed to a crawl. It seems like all of my machinery has decided to shit the bed at the same time. Nothing major, but our new 'we don't keep those in stock, you'll have to order' culture around tools and hardware is super annoying.

handheld belt sander blew the last belt. --ordered
stationary belt sander blew the last belt --ordered
Bandsaw wood blade gave up the ghost --ordered
Drill press chuck has decided not to stay on the spindle anymore --may end up using super glue, per old-timer recommendations.

Yesterday I got the pickup cutouts finished. Today I added some depth and cleaned up the weight relief in the neck and started the weight relief between the pickups. Down to 4lbs 13oz at the moment.

Ugh - that sucks. Especially when it's like a run of multiple failures or I have set aside the specific time to do a task and WELP NOPE not gonna happen now.

Sunday weekly update: Receiver- has been finish-routed for weight relief from the back. Destroyed an old chamfer bit removing material from the shoulders of the neck. This coming week I will machine the headstock angle.

Sunday weekly Update: Body: I spent much more time this week on the body. Got it shaped, added arm and belly cuts, and got the 'pocket' and control cavity routed. I think it looks pretty good. Body is down to 4lbs 5oz and the receiver is down to 4lbs 6oz.