[David DeWeese]

Hi Bob,
Used white pine for the boards.
Bought one of those adjustable width dado blades from Harbor Freight and installed it on a table saw for the joints. Once you get it dialed-in it works well, but boards have to be very straight, plus the wider the boards are the harder it is to get the grooves right. A hammer and wood block still had to be used to get them together...
Will dissasemble the wood and paint all the edges before painting the body.
Thanks, David