Thread: Triton WC for Instrument Building

you should check the post about triton and accuracy before you buy one.

I was considering triton WC but by the time i bought all of it i could have bought decent table saw for the same price....
so thats what i did and never regretted it

You see much discussion about upgrading from triton after its outgrown
i avoided that step.

Apparently the triton is great for its portability but not accuracy

Triton is really great for ripping and crosscutting timber, ply, frames, cauls etc quickly and safely but it is fiddly to get *really* accurate, and the protractor has a lot of play in it which drives me NUTS. But it cuts straight lines well, and it folds away quickly which is really handy. I don't know how portable proper table saws are, if that matters any.

However ... for what I do, 90 degrees is a bit irrelevant. There are not many things where the tolerances are that fine. Of course, making picture frames and cupboards is another matter entirely. Has to be accurate, and the triton has only helped me a bit with those (45 degree shooting board obligatory!).

But IMO, instruments are more forgiving.

For things like routing neck pockets etc, you'd probably need to make up special jigs anyway, rather than trying to use the Triton router table. I bought one, but have not had much fun with it.

I use the Triton for the rough work and for shelving, boxes, frames, jigs etc. Really useful. But it didn't go anywhere near my instrument!

Actually, I think a bandsaw might be more useful to you ...

Haha.. right after I've completed the order.. way to burst my bubble

When it comes to neck pockets and body routing, I'll be using a drill press with a forstner bit to remove most of the material, then cleaning and finishing it with the router handheld, won't be going near the Triton.. the router table will be for things like jointing body/neck edges for gluing, and other little projects outside of guitars. The main thing I need it for is cutting up body/neck/fretboard wood, getting it straight and jointed ready to glue. The portability and adaptability are the big selling points for me.

I'll report back in a fortnight when I've got all the stuff and given it a test run... I'll either be telling you you're all wrong or telling you it's so great that you need to buy it off me...

Awww come on gumby......you asleep

I bought a Triton 2000 workcentre with all the extra gadgets and a standalone router table many years ago before I did my apprenticeship to become a full-time carpenter.
Apart from the odd bit of furniture, kitchen and bar I made using it,
I haven't used it much since.
I've taken it onto the odd job site for the odd task but I still see it as a stopgap for a dedicated table saw with ripping capabilities in mind.
I actually prefer the 20+ year old Elu we've got on the building site.

The router table, on the other hand gets used heaps for
instrument making. But that's it.

Cheers, Stu

Triton router table okay for routing truss rod channel but I wouldnt use it for anything else.

Sorry to sound like a prick - but the way it sounds like you plan to cut out the cavities sounds like unorganized chaos.

I use plexiglass templates that are filed to the exact shape I want. Simple screw it down over the guitar face and then route. Its an EXACT way to get the routes perfect everytime.

I would never go freehand like a couple of you guys have suggested.

If my desription is not clear enough, I could make a pictorial on cavity routing. I just made a guitar body a couple days ago. Neck pocket took about a minute. Pickup cavities a bout a minute, floyd cavity about 5 minutes. Theres prob about 10-20 minutes setup time, depends which templates I'm using. The real time is spent making my templates which requires extreme accuracy.

I started off with stewmac templates, but decided they required too much set up time. So I make one piece templates. Much less setup tiome and less holes to patch up. In fact no holes!

Nah man, I won't be routing freehand anywhere. My plan is to use the drill press with a forstner or bradpoint (flat bottom) to remove most of the material, and use the router to clean up the bottom/sides, and all the while using a template, most likely a Stew Mac one. I'll free-hand the binding, but that'll be with a bearing guided bit, after I've done a good lot of practice cuts on scrap wood.

Originally Posted by AwDeOh

Nah man, I won't be routing freehand anywhere. My plan is to use the drill press with a forstner or bradpoint (flat bottom) to remove most of the material, and use the router to clean up the bottom/sides, and all the while using a template, most likely a Stew Mac one. I'll free-hand the binding, but that'll be with a bearing guided bit, after I've done a good lot of practice cuts on scrap wood.

If you have a plunger router, ue that with the bearing guided bit. It only takes about 30-60 seconds to cut a pickup route using a template screwed down to the body.

Dont worry about all the messing around with other tools. All you need is the template, the router and a roller guided router bit to follow the template. Any other way and you're just making a really easy job hard.

The Stewmac templates suck in the sense that they are small. When you screw them down they leave holes in your guitar surface. Not a big issue if your painting solid, but if your clear coating its different.

Best off to file out your own templates from perspex and make tem bigger than your guiatr shape. Screw the edges down to the scrap and then theres no holes to repair. IE: you'd be routing before you cut out your body.

This way saves you heaps of hole filling work in later stages.

actually you better to screw the perspex templates to a sheet of ply or mdf and cut em first
then you can have a decent size to clamp em down plus using ur expensive bought templates all the time you soon put plenty gouges in em