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I routed the truss rod channel in a neck today as I always do on my router table. I noticed an unusual resistance during the cutting and when I took a look at the finished product, I found that the nut end of the channel was nowhere near on the centerline. I was wondering how that could have happened, but then I noticed that the channel actually curved from one end to the other. That led to finding out that the left end of the fence had gradually slipped during the routing because I hadn't tightened the knob at that end enough. Argh!

I decided I would rout the channel out wider to straighten it and then fill it in with a piece of wood and re-rout the channel. So I did a stupid thing. I repositioned the fence to its original position and tried to run the neck back over the router to straighten out the inside edge of the curved channel. Bad move because that turned out to be a climb cut and it grabbed the neck and pulled it really hard. I managed to stop it before it did much damage though. I should have swapped out the 1/4" bit for a larger bit to widen the channel. Lesson learned. When rattled because something went wrong, stop and think things through carefully before proceeding with the planned fix, especially when a router is involved. And, tighten down the danged knobs on the fence!

The channel is filled and ready for a do over.

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Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you look at it right - Robert Hunter

Jay is giving us advice we all should keep in our sights: After uttering a major 'oops' (or something like that) down tools and get out of the shop. Return when rested and clearheaded.

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Peter Havriluk

Just had the same experience (without the extra resistance) routing my last neck for the truss rod.
Top dollar AAA flamed maple.
Now it's 15% flamed quarter-sawn beech....
Won't be including pictures of that part of the build.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Putting the tools down and exiting the shop after making an error is why it takes me so long to build an instrument.

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George :-)

Think that's long? Wanna see how long it takes to build an instrument if we DON'T vacate the scene of the crime?

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Peter Havriluk

I've tried that, too. It's definitely better to put the tools down and take a break.

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George :-)