re: Progress on the Wiring Path

Go for it, Ty!  I would hesitate to bed the wire in epoxy just because it would prevent replacement of the wire in the future.  You could make a narrow surface slot a decorative element of the stave, tuck the wire in, and hold it captive with some type of backer strip that's press fit into the slot (like a fine rubber cord that provides a pinstripe.   If the all staves have the "decorative" strip for consistency, you could split the wire and run a single conductor up two staves to reduce the required slot depth.