Guitar Routing And Chiselling

[Guitar Dougie]

People often chip the body of their guitar when routing or go too far when chiselling. The trick to getting around this is to make an outline with a chisel of the selected area chosen for chiselling. So that when you chisel close to the edge, the chipping won't lift past the outline, giving a neat and clean finish.

[Mattia]

Alternately, for non-straight lines, you can get a marking knife, or use a sharp new exacto. I can't say that chipout's been much of an issue when routing solidbody stuff, but pre-outlining, say, binding in a spruce topped instrument can help with tearout. Good tip.

[brian d]

First post, and it's a gem.

Thanks.

Brian.

People often chip the body of their guitar when routing or go too far when chiselling. The trick to getting around this is to make an outline with a chisel of the selected area chosen for chiselling. So that when you chisel close to the edge, the chipping won't lift past the outline, giving a neat and clean finish.

[fryovanni]

Very good tip.

Taking care to watch the grain in the area you are routing is another precaution. Example: on a quarter sawn body the ends of the bouts tend to be more susceptible to chipping as the grain runs out. Making sure to move the router the correct cutting direction helps too.

Peace,Rich