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I'm building a couple headstock templates I can use for routing my headstock design. What materials do you all use? I considered plexiglass, but that seems to chip and break too easily when trying to cut it out. I'm thinking wood might be easiest, but am a little worried the template will not be durable enough for long-term use with a router.

How do the rest of you trim your headstocks?

Thanks!

John

This reply is from a beginner, but I have made mine out of 1/2 " baltic birch plywood. Very easy to work and works well with double sided tape. Also it is very easy to put drill bushings into to locate and drill for tuners. Tom

birch ply or mdf work well. if you want to go the premium route die board is great, but dear.

I am using a material called Slick Plate which I bought from www.busybeetools.com . Go to their site and do a search for slick plate and the different sizes will come up. I us 1/4 in. Slick plate works great with wood working tools and doesn’t chip and break like the plexiglass. Yet I think it is strong enough to last a very long time. It is some type of plastic. You may be able to find it somewhere in the US. I would highly recommend it.

I have tried Lexan and plexiglass and neither one is very nice to work with. I would not recommend either.

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

Phenolic. Works great, easy to machine, yet is very durable. You can order it from Highland Hardware in Atlanta GA.

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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.
Only badly."

(another beginner offering advice) How about Lexan?
Dennis

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Dennis Leahy
Duluth, MN, USA
7th Sense Multimedia

Laminate floring.

Dennis

I tried Lexan and I did not like working with it at all. I had a bad time with it catching on the router while trying to make the templates. It did not like the way it machined. It makes great templates once they are finished, but I didn't like the process of working with it.

Arvey
I have also tried laminate floring. It works, but I think it can be hard on your tools. Maybe it depends on the floring. The stuff I was working with would give off a spark every now and again. There must have been some small pieces of metal in the mix. So I haven't used it since.

I would go with the Slick Plate over either of these. Don, is Phenolic the same product?

Josh

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Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

I second the Lexan (trade name for poly carbonate). Especially for headplate templates, it's nice to see through to make sure you are positioned where you want to be.
Josh, are you SURE you were using Lexan? I've never had any problems at all and I use the stuff a lot around my shop. I cut it, route it, file it, sand it and it always works great.
Phenolic is a composite material of layers of paper or linen impregnated with plastic. Bomb proof stuff but you pay for it.

Phenolic is also known as UHMW plastic. It is available from most online woodworker supplies and occasionally at Harbor Freight.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Don, phenolic and UHMW are two different things. UHMW is the white slippery stuff that everyone puts on their table saw fences. Cutting boards are similar to this but not actually UHMW.
Phenolic is laminated with paper or linen and is black or brown in color. VERY heavy, solid and expensive.

Yup, UHMW is Ultra High Molecular Weight Polyethylene. Well, at least it is on this side of the planet.

I've used Lexan for years with no problems.

Paul is right. Cutting boards are usually made of HDPE, which is High Density Poly Ethylene. It runs about half the price of UHMW and also makes good slippery surfaces and jig parts.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Like I always say "I'm usually wrong", and this was no exception    I stand corrected. Doh!

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

Paul

I know it was Lexan. It does make good templates, I just didn't have a great experience working with it. I may have to give it another try in the future. For know I am using the UHMW (I think I have that right, it is white and slippery) for templates. I just found that it machined a bit easier. But you are right, it is kinda nice to have clear templates.

Josh

_________________
Josh House

Canadian Luthier Supply
http://www.canadianluthiersupply.com
https://www.facebook.com/canadianluthiersupply?ref=hl
House Guitars - Custom Built Acoustic Instruments.
http://www.houseguitars.com

I have to agree with Josh about the polycarbonate-when routing it the router had a tendency to "dig-in".
I still use it because I am happy with the end result,though.

   Ebay has a guy that sell lexan cheap. he is from nazareth and I use alot of this stuff in 1/4 and 1/2. I like this as you can scripe a center line. Then you can mark a center on your headstock and compare them . easy and not expensive.
    When you get to my shop I can show you and maybe help you guys out with headstock patterns. I can make them on a mill and have them within .002 accurate. $8 plus shipping for the martin.
john hall

[QUOTE=tippie53]
    When you get to my shop I can show you and maybe help you guys out with headstock patterns. I can make them on a mill and have them within .002 accurate. $8 plus shipping for the martin.
john hall [/QUOTE]

Hmmm...how about custom headstock shapes from drawings, or half-body templates, either in standard or custom shapes? Too costly for setup?

CarltonCarltonM38526.6827662037

Carlton,
I'm sure we can do this at Luthier Suppliers. I'm not sure on the cost, but doing custom stuff is not that difficult if you have great programming skills on a new shopbot. As for the cost, it depends on the material used for the template.
Tracy

[QUOTE=tl507362] Carlton,
I'm sure we can do this at Luthier Suppliers. I'm not sure on the cost, but doing custom stuff is not that difficult if you have great programming skills on a new shopbot. As for the cost, it depends on the material used for the template.
Tracy[/QUOTE]

Tracy,

How about 1/4" Lexan, just as an example, for a custom headstock or body shape? Also, since you're computerized, could you do radius templates (both inside and outside on one piece), say, 24" long?

Thanks,
Carlton

Carlton,
That would be very easy to do. But Lexan is very expensive, so I'm sure these jigs wouldn't be very cheap. What would you use the 24" x 1/4" radius template for? We already have a program for cutting any radius in concave and convex radius', so this would be a piece of cake. Just send me your specs and I'll see what we can do.
Tracy

Call me. one never knows. 570-682-8046 I have blues creek guitars. I make all kinds of jigs and will be able to help
john

Tracy and John,

This is great! I can actually envision myself building guitars this winter instead of templates and jigs!

You'll both hear from me in about 3 months.

Thanks,
Carlton

tracy

when you first said you were going into the jig business i suggested you do the radius templates. what are they for? how about as routing templates for the rails of a radius dish making jig, or a a jig to route the arch on braces, or checking how your top or back took its arch after bracing.

they are cheap and very usefull.