Methods for cutting out body shape

[Luke Forbes]

I'm curious what methods you guys use for cutting out your body shapes. Bandsaw, jigsaw, router, others? I think I might try making a pattern out of 1/4" plywood and routing the shape out since I don't have access to a bandsaw.

[Eric Baack]

I'd use thicker then the 1/4" plywood. When I use the router I like to make shallow cuts with a top mounted bearing bit. This helps to avoid tearout. You can cut out the rough shape with a jigsaw and either use a drum sander or a router to cut down to the final profile.

[Luke Forbes]

That seems to me like the most viable option. I take it you suggest using thicker pattern material so you can adjust for your shallower cut?

[Eric Baack]

yep, maybe even use a pair of 1/2" thick templates and then you can remove one if your router won't cut deep enough to go all of the way through. Once you get past the template, then the body acts as it's own template. I don't like to cut through the entire thickness of the body as I've had bad experiences with tearout doing that.

[David King]

I can't recommend a router for anything beyond trimming the last 1/8" or less off the edges after you cut it out.
You can get an orbital action jigsaw like the bosch ( all the major brands make them now and use the bosch blades with ground teeth that will give you an extremely smooth surface and cut nearly as fast as a bandsaw. The T301DL or just the regular T101B blades will do a great job with minimal sanding afterwards. What you have to know is that the blades will deflect towards the outside of the cutting radius during sharp turns so you need to take that into account when you go around inside curves like the waist and the cutaways.

It takes an extremely rigid router setup to follow a pattern in a single pass. I use a whiteside 1/2" x 2", 3 flute solid carbide spiral cutter with double bearings at the end. The router is mounted inverted under a table. My 3.5HP bosch vs router deflects too much and often yanks chunks out of the end-grain so I can't recommend it but i'm sure a Milwaukee or a Triton 3+ Hp could do this just fine. Note that just the router bit will set you back more than a good jigsaw. A solid router and table will cost as much as a 14" bandsaw. Sanding blocks or a sanding drum in the drill press will get you there in time for a whole lot less money, noise and danger.

[Luke Forbes]

I haven't had much experience using a router so this may be a stupid question but why can't you just take multiple shallow cuts following the pattern and skip trimming off the excess all together?

[Rodger Knox]

I believe David is recommending to cut the shape out with a jig saw to within 1/8" of the final shape, and remove that with a router.
If you're planning on using a router and template to cut the shape from the square blank, your template needs to be thick enough that the first cut into the blank is 1/8" deep or less. If you're using a 1/2" diameter bit, a 1/8" deep cut is removing 0.0625 square inches. With a handheld router, I try to keep cuts down to 0.10 square inches or less in hardwood.
Anyway, with that method, making the template is nearly as much work as cutting the blank itself (1 1/4" for template or 1 7/8" for body), so unless you're making several it's more trouble than it's worth.

[Luke Forbes]

My thought process is that i can zip a pattern out of plywood in 5 minutes using a rotozip bit and if I screw up I have plenty of plywood to use. Ill probably still do that just for the finishing cut, But if you're suggesting 1/8" deep is all the router can handle that's 15 times around the loop I might as well cut off the excess and save some time. I appreciate the input guys. I think I have the process down ill go see how it works out.

[David King]

There are two ways of getting a router to follow a pattern. Most woodworkers use the collars that require the pattern to be an 1/8" to 1/16" undersized (or oversized for cavities). Most luthiers seem to prefer specialized pattern bits that use a ball bearing race the same diameter as the cutter and a full sized pattern.
Each system has it's advantages but in the long run the collars are much more flexible and much less expensive provided you can make your own templates with the correct offset.

[John Catto]

I've done this the same way for years with pretty much everything I've ever built with the exception of a couple of guitars built in high school and art college. You need to make a template, I always use MDF since it's easy to get a good finish on the edge. I glue the laser printed printed pattern on, rough cut with a jigsaw to as close as I can get it then finish with surforms, sanding blocks and dremel with sanding drums. I'll often use the dremel with the sanding drum in a router base to make sure the sides of the template are 100% vertical. If I'm not happy with the template, I'll redo it, this is the bit you need to get right. I'll usually start with 5/16th MDF or close, if I want to make the template thicker I'll glue a second layer on there cut as close as possible and use a pattern following (bearing on top) bit to finish it off. You could finish the edge off with a coat of CA glue if you think you'll reuse the template a lot.

Once the template is done and perfect I transfer the outline to the wood (soft pencil or sharpie) then cut it out with either a band saw or hand held jigsaw.

Hand held is fine as long as you
a: are aware of any bias your particular saw has to the left or right and cut accordingly and
b: use the right blade, a coarse toothed one made for ripping thick hardwoods. The blade makes all the difference. I cut as close as the blade will allow me and take extreme care inside the curves cutting away the waste first.

After that I mount the template usually with countersinked screws where the neck/pickup pockets will be plus double sided tape. If the screws aren't possible then lots of doublesided tape and clamp the template for a few minutes first, it'll be harder to get off after but won't move unexpectedly. I use the full depth of the bit and tiny cautious cuts. NEVER be tempted to put a little elbow grease behind the cut, you'll just get tear out. Really it doesn't matter on one guitar whether it takes you the better part of an hour to finish it off! Once you've done the full length of the bit drop it and do more passes deeper, if necessary remove the template for the final passes (using the body itself as the template)

[Luke Forbes]

That is exactly what I am doing thank you. Luckily I had some leftover mdf from making a speaker cab.

[Steve Woods]

Luke,
You do too have access to a bandsaw...
http://williamsport.craigslist.org/tls/3928217267.html
If I needed a bandsaw and was in your area I would be all over this nice little Delta Homecraft, especially for the price!
These were classic vintage made in the USA quality machines. This one would take up very little space and a bandsaw is almost indispensable in most any kind of wood working. Better grab this one before it is gone!
Steve