Thread: What to use to bevel edges on electric guitar?

Originally Posted by kiwigeo

Get a decent plane. Youre going to need it when you turn to the dark side and start making acoustics

And don't say it won't ever happen...

I can't wait until i can spend some money on go-bar presses, side benders etc, But i think i will leave my first acoustic until i believe i am competent with building electrics.

You can never have enough planes !!!!!!!
I think I've got 9 planes. All for different purposes and they all get used alot.

+1 on the acoustic building RG. I still see acoustics as a huge jump up from electrics. Oh well..one day.


Cheers, Stu

Would love to jump into acoustic building but the humidity issues frighten the hell out of me. I see this as the biggest barrier.....ccccrrrrraaacccckkkkkkkkk.....aaaagggghhhhhhhhhh

My workshop is usually around 50 but a few dry Melbourne days and bingo we are at 30!!!!......and then there's summer......

id look into stu's suggestion and cut a template and route it with a bevel bearing bit

I have used an angle grinder with a coarse sanding disc attachment and the a block and paper.

When you use the grinder you need to move at a constant speed and try to do a whole edge in one pass without changing your cutting angle.

It does work, but you'll need to sand it after to get a decent finish.

How about a spokeshave.

Any straight bevels I just do on the 6 inch jointer which lets you set the angle, but not much chop for curved edges.

Cheers
Archer

will this do for the bevelling bit?
http://www.apworkshop.com.au/html_ro...lam-30btb.html

and i'll be getting a plane, spokeshave and sander either way cos i'll need it for other bits of the guitar.
would i need the router bit if i just used the plane and spokeshave?

You can never have too many good router bits.

Now, having said that, the ones you've linked to are not really what would work. You'd be looking for a 45° bevel bit with ball-bearing guide on the bottom.

More like model "T916" here.

As skills develop you should become more confident with hand tools. For a beginner, machine processes create the initial accuracy and handwork diverges from that. As manual dexterity is gained, you become able to maintain accuracy with hand tools, and in some cases ditch machine work all together.

The project guitar is a difficult one in many ways because of the level of detail and how hard it would be to recover errors. To make up for that, you could consider trying out some of the techniques required, on similar wood scraps, or even (gasp!) simplifying the design slightly. It's just another iteration of the old saying "practice makes perfect". You could even experiment with deliberately screwing things up and recovering the situation.

Regards, Adam.

Another tip,

When i built my first guitar i actually built two of them, one as a practice peice out of rubbish timber and one out of the good stuff.

Even now i use the rubbish guitar to check things out on before destroying good work and timber.

thanks for the link addo, that looks like what i need. and yeh i've been practicing alot on scrap wood. wouldnt dare to start on the real thing until i'm confident.

Originally Posted by old_picker

id look into stu's suggestion and cut a template and route it with a bevel bearing bit

can you please tel me how to make a template? should i use metal?

Originally Posted by macaroni

can you please tel me how to make a template? should i use metal?

You shouldn't need a template if you get a bevel bit with a bottom bearing.

Templates are best made of MDF or Plywood, though i use straight aluminium for routing the necks final taper.

Originally Posted by macaroni

can you please tel me how to make a template? should i use metal?

Macaroni, Stu posted some handy info on making templates in this thread
https://www.woodworkforums.com/f98/router-template-cavities-59366

I don't know about using metal. I think it's probably a lot of effort, although probably could be done, especially if you had your design done in a CAD program and got it laser cut.

And like RGM said, you shouldn't need a template if you want to do bevels. If you have (or are buying) a bit without a bearing, then you can buy the appropriate bearing seperately anyway. With this type of bit, the side of the guitar body becomes its own template, and the bearing follows this edge, with the cutter making the bevel on the top (assuming you are using a table mounted router).