Kevin Chilcott
Luthier
MAKING AN 'ANGEL'
Routing the Sides of the Body
Note..... There was No power to the Router while the picture was taken.
Flush Cutting
the Side of the Body to the Pattern.
The roller bearing follows the pattern on the top of the body and the
router
cutter trims the wood back to the exact size of the pattern.
Flush Cutting - the 'First trip' round the body, where the top 2/3 of the waste is removed.
All Done..... Nice Cleanly Cut Sides..... top to bottom, exactly to The Pattern.
* * * * * * * * * *
Routing the Edges of the Body
The next 4 Pictures Below are for a Standard 'Angel' with an 18th fret neck joint. The controls will be front mounted with no scratch plate, so the back will be routed to insert the electrical components.
Note..... There was No power to the Router while the picture was taken.
Using a 1/4" (6.35mm)
'Rounding Over' Router
Cutter with a Roller Guide to 'Edge'
the Body.
The roller bearing follows the outline of the body, and the router cutter rounds
over the top edge.
Note..... There was No power to the Sander while the picture was taken.
Body has been Edged - now needs Sanding
with 80 grit Garnet Paper to clean up
where
necessary, and then given a General Sand Over.
All Sanded.
The Centre Line is Marked
in again.
'Potential Routing'
Positions for Pickups
etc and Fingerboard plus Bridge
position and Control layout
are Marked.
This particular guitar body (in the above pix) will be for a Standard 'Angel'
with an 18th fret neck joint. The controls will be
front mounted with no scratch plate, so the
back will be routed to insert the electrical components.
* * * * * * * * * *
The next 3 Pictures below are for a Custom Angel with a 17th fret neck joint. The controls will be scratchplate mounted, so the front will be routed for the electrical components.
Note..... There was No power to the Router while the picture was taken.
Using a 3/16" (4.5mm)
'Rounding Over' Router
Cutter with a Roller Guide to 'Edge'
the Body.
The roller bearing follows the outline of the body, and the router cutter rounds
over the top edge.
All Sanded.
The Centre Line is Marked
in again.
At this Stage, as you can see
below, some 'Bubble Pack' underneath
the component is very helpful.
As it's been sanded it can now 'mark' quite easily
from this stage onwards.
The 'Bubble Pack' prevents
potential damage to a great extent.
'Potential Routing'
Positions for Pickups and Control layout
are Marked.
This particular guitar body (in the above pix) will be for a
Custom'Angel'
with an 17th fret neck joint. The controls will be
scratchplate mounted on the
front.
The two different 'radii', 1/4" and 3/16" for the alternative body types may not seem much different, but even a 1/16" change actually gives a very difference 'overall look' to the guitar.
Aesthetics really make a difference.