criss Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 How much wood do you leave on the guitar top when you rout your cavitys ( toggle switch and for long post pots ) Im doing a flying v flat topped body is 37mm thick and need your input , i dont want to go to far with the rout . And do you drill your holes thru the guitar top before or after you rout . ? ANy tips would be great . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rokeros Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 I get your point. Soon, I will be facing that situation myself. My project will aslso be a flat top but with a flame maple venner. The thing I am afriad of is if i mill the whole depth of the body, then the venner will be week. However, milling machines are hard to work with and I am afraid of snapping my expensive wood in the proccess Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simo Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 I normally leave 1/4" unless I'm using long shaft pots. Personally I drill the volume/tone/switch holes first, I drill them all the way through the body then I can line up my rear template to make sure they fit well inside the rear cavity. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SawDust_Junkie Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Iwill be addressing this on my project too. I have been mulling it over and had the same concerns about the route being too deep in the control cavity and weakening the wood. My project is a LP DC. I have already drilled the holes through the body for the pots and and the three way selector switch. The problem I saw was, while the pots are 500K ohm long shaft pots, the three way selector switch is the better mechanical type of switch ( it is the 90 degree offset switch so it fits in a shallower cavity). The three way switch only allows room for about 3/16 of inch of wood thickness. Maybe 1/4" if I only want a thread or two in the retaining ring on the top of the body. The only switches I have found that have a deeper shaft, closer to the same as the long shaft pots, are the cheap little enclosed circuit board type of switch. I don't like these switches as good as the Gibson type "mechanical" switches. Anybody know any good solutions for this ? Or will this wood thicknes be strong enough ? I think these are the same type switches that Gibson uses on the LPs and the SGs so they must route out the control cavity to the same depth as I think I will have to. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simo Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Anybody know any good solutions for this ? Or will this wood thicknes be strong enough ? I think these are the same type switches that Gibson uses on the LPs and the SGs so they must route out the control cavity to the same depth as I think I will have to. ← I would just route a circle that's slightly deeper around the switch hole. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jehle Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 I normally leave 1/4" unless I'm using long shaft pots. Personally I drill the volume/tone/switch holes first, I drill them all the way through the body then I can line up my rear template to make sure they fit well inside the rear cavity. ← +1 to that. Drill first to make sure that the control plate is in the right place. 1/4" should be enough left over to push most pots and switches through. The 5 position Strat-type switches like the wood to be a tad thinner. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Devon Headen Posted September 23, 2005 Report Share Posted September 23, 2005 Also, I don't route the whole shebang to the same depth. Rout to a thicker depth than you need, then use a forstner bit to fine tune the depth for each pot/switch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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