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Hi, James asked if i would share how i carve my volutes...
first a disclaimer: my methods are risky, use caution if you try this at home.

first I get my blank roughed out on the bandsaw.


in this shot you can see the simple jig that i use to level the back of the headstock, and to rough out the diamond. if you look close you can see the lines i have drawn on the back of the headstock.


heres a closer look at the jig and my diamond Volute template.


The neck is held down by using double stick tape.


I set the router bit hight here on the outside of the jig.


Now heres where you need to be carefull, I route the whole back of the headstock and up to the lines of the volute "free hand". I get as close as possible and then clean up the lines later with my chisel.


there is still alot to do on this to clean it up... but you get the general idea.


Good luck, and have fun!
Matt

Matt, the cap is off your glue! Its going to DRY UP!

Great little jig there! Man I gotta get me one of those vices!

How do you center it in the jig? I see the two sided tape that holds it in place.

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Thanks Matt.I hope that`s going on the tutorial page.I`m gonna give that a whirl.Great job
                                  James

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Matt, great tutorial.

Lance, looks to me like square top of headstock for alignment, and the part that is left high for the volute acts as the centering guide.

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Waddy

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Sound Clips of most of my guitars

Oh, I see.  The guide is as big as the headstock at the top, so just put it in the middle.  The only reason for the wider bottom portion is the so the wider top will slip through, but when it is in, the guide follows the sides of the headstock, otherwise you couldn't route to the edge.

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Waddy

Photobucket Build Album Library

Sound Clips of most of my guitars

actually there is no guide, the top section is just roughly the shape of the headstock.
the actual headstock is narrower, and there is about 3/8" clearance all the way around it.

the jig is really just for flattening the back of the headstock and roughing out the lines of the V.
I shape the outline of the headstock on a different jig that looks like this:



on this one, the jig follows the bearing bit, and cleans up my rough bandsaw cut.
it only trims off a little bit of material, and leaves me with a nice 1 3/4" nut width.

some day I`ll have a cnc... but for now this does nicely.

matt, thank you for posting this tutorial! simple, yet clever!

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sweat the small stuff.

Awesome Matt! Another problem solved!

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Thanks Matt. I've always been fascinated with the diamond volute. You make it easy for a novice. What bit are you using? TIA, Bruce

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Hi Bruce, I`m using a 3/4" straight bit with a flush bearing under.

i use this same bit for almost everything.

Matt

Matt, this is brilliant. Almost a no-brainer it's so simple. Sometimes it's the simple jigs that make so much sense.

I recently purchased a Wagner power planer to do the job of thinning the headstock accurately. I think this way is equally as good or better.



In this picture, what is the paper used for in the picture? Is that double sided tape to hold the neck in place? If it's not double sided tape, how do you hold the whole thing still for routing? TIA, Bruce

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While you are at it Matt. How do you make your slots?
bd

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[QUOTE=Matt Gage]The neck is held down by using double stick tape. Matt[/QUOTE]

I missed that line between the photos, but did see the white tape in your jig. Makes sense. Thanks Matt. bd

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What?!! Only seven pictures??? Come on Matt, we could use a pic for each movement of the chisel too. Oh, and the sanding as well.



Nice tutorial...thanks.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
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yeah I`d like to try one of those power planers.

the router definitly leaves you with some sanding to do after. i try to make random passes with the router so there are no distiguishable straight lines that are hard to sand out.

gotta run,,its the UPS guy, My cases just showed up!