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Hi, what does evrybody use to trim the excess of the top and back flush to the sides, before the channels are cut?

pictures would help.

                        Red

Red,

I use my binding jig with it set to cut flush to the sides.

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Red,
just watch for grain orientation so the soundboard wont split or tear...

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

Thanks Dave, thats what I was gonna do, I thought somebody might do it different.....

I just use a lam trimer and a follower bit, but like Peter said, watch the grain.

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

When you say watch the grain, do you mean to do the climb cut?

                                      Red

Red

Check out the Stewmac site or have a look in a cattledog if you've got one.

There's a really good diagram of the sequence of cuts.

Cheers

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

Whoops. I've been Heshed.

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Bob Connor
Geelong, Australia

I use my router table with a flush trim bit. Like everyone says, watch the grain direction to avoid tear-out (or tear-off, to be more precise).

Good advice to watch the grain. I didn't do this on one of mine and two chunks of spruce went flying! Luckily I found them and was able to glue them back in place. Lesson learned!

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Anderson Guitars
Clearwater,Fl. 33755

I do exactly what Hesh does. It's worked flawlessly twice so far.

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Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet engines.

Red,
that Stewmac example is a great way to do it.

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Peter M.
Cornerstone Guitars
http://www.cornerstoneukes.com

i've got the 'guitar jigs' router jig and it's got a flush trimming guide which works fast and great. the problem is that i'm currently working on wenge back and sides and feel certain that pieces might go flying if i ask the router to take off excess back that is not glued onto the rims/kerfing.
so for this one, as painful and time consuming as it is with wenge, i'm cutting close to flush with a dozuki saw (can cut just about everywhere but the waist), then sanding to flush. it's a lot of work, but i don't want to risk the splinters.
my plan before routing is to coat the edges to be routed with zpoxy first. hoping a dry layer of that keeps the wenge from blowing apart.
phil

I just did the trimming last week on my Celtic build. Here is a photo doing the climb cuts. Notice an arrow drawn on the guitar holding jig that reminds me where to stop and start the cuts.   In the 2nd photo, I've just finished trimming the top and you can see the Williams jig. I use a spiral downcut bit.










Ron

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OLD MAN formerly (and formally) known as:

Ron Wisdom

Somewhere in the middle of Arkansas......

This is one post where I wish Mario was back.

He posted his method on the MIMF a while back and I have to say that it's the best method I've ever seen to trim the excess top and back material.

I searched over on the MIMF for the thread but they have such a poor archive (read slow) system that it's just floating around in cyberspace or something

Anyway, he uses those little roto-zip guide point bits like this



The bit is 1/8" dia, runs it in his router table.

Picture in your mind the setup (sorry no picture).

Router table with the bit sticking up say 1/2-3/4", turn on the router, take some wax (candle wax will do) and plunge the wax down onto the bit, not all the way down, just 1/4-3/8" is enough. Now take the glued body to the router table say top down. Cut the side excess off with the bit. The wax acts as a natural bearing and fills the cutter so it doesn't cut into the body. The coolest part of this set up is that you won't get blowout, you see the bit is supported on both sides and won't blow out the top wood.

I don't know If I've done this method justice or not, wish Mario was here to show pics and explain.

Once I get back into the shop, I'll use this to trim the excess on the next guitar and will take pics and try to explain the process better.

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Dzouki saw and a fine file.

Slow and tedious. But at least theres no danger of messing up.

To be honest if I had a lam trimmer I'd use it !!!!

Richard

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Richard

I use a small plane, then go to my spindle sander. Routers scare me

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

How does this jig follow a sloping back and provide a perpendicular cut? Does it pivot about the horizontal axis?

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

Flush trim bit in a hand held router; I try to take small bites in the "trouble areas" to avoid splitting off chunks of wood, so far no big uh-ohs. You have to pay attention though.

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

Flush-trim bit in a router table. If you pay attention to grain orientation,
as everyone has mentioned above, it is just about impossible to damage
your guitar.

Peace Out,
Simon

I use a flush trim in a dedicated visa points router - its too cheap to use for anything else !!!!

My method is slightly different from others though - I route into the waist areas first - straight in, then chew a bit to that from each bout, say an inch. Now you route all the edges downgrain, whether its climb or not - so, from the top of each bout into the waist, then top of each bout to the blocks. Taking out the waist area first means there is nothing there for the bit to grab and tear as it bottoms out in there. Blowout doesnt happen.

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Last guitar, I used a robo-sander in my drill press--like a flush trim bit. It's slow but safe, very little chance of a major screw-up.

I've done a few with the Robo-sander, but I find it tends to burn the sleeve because such a tiny area is in contact so it's very easy to go a bit fast and overwork it.

If you follow the Stewmac procedure you'll get pretty much guaranteed results in just a few minutes.

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Richard
http://www.guitarmaker.com

I use a lam trimmer with a flush trim bit. Haven't had any problems doing it that way so far.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars