Source For Strat Control Cavity & Jack Templates?

[scott from _actual time_]

anyone know a source for router templates for the Strat under-the-pickguard control cavity and the Strat jack hole? i don't need a template for the whole body or for the pickups, just for the control and jack cavities. i thought Stew Mac sold templates for those, but apparently not.

thanks.

[Mickguard]

Since it's under the pickguard, you can just make your template as it suits you and the hardware you're using --the only rule to go by is that the pickguard should cover the cavity.

Same with the jackplate, but on a smaller scale. What I did was trace around the outside of it, then shape an oval within that, leaving space for where the screws need to be.

[scott from _actual time_]

Since it's under the pickguard, you can just make your template as it suits you and the hardware you're using --the only rule to go by is that the pickguard should cover the cavity.

true, and with the pickguard coverage as a safety net i'm not interested in spending a ton of coin on templates. but i do like my routes to look as clean as possible, even the hidden ones, so if templates for these were easily available i'd snatch them up.

[GregP]

Is the jack hole not typically drilled at an angle rather than routed?

[marksound]

On a Strat, the jack is mounted to the plate which sits in an oval cavity. A hole for wires is drilled from the jackplate cavity to the control cavity. Pic

[GregP]

I used a strat jack for my lap steel build-- and the way the jack plate is shaped, it just seemed obvious to me to drill instead of rout an oval cavity. I couldn't find a good side-shot of the jackplate online, but those who have used strat-style jackplates should know what I mean.

Not saying that it "should" be one or another. Simply and ONLY saying that when I bought the strat jackplate, I instantly thought, "ah, you just have to drill!"

Greg

[Mickguard]

true, and with the pickguard coverage as a safety net i'm not interested in spending a ton of coin on templates. but i do like my routes to look as clean as possible, even the hidden ones, so if templates for these were easily available i'd snatch them up.

I'm suggesting you just make your own templates --the routes will be as clean as the templates you make.

I only make my own templates--since I consider that the 'real' work of making a guitar. Once you have a template, the routing pretty much happens by itself. So buying templates is kind of like buying a kit guitar for me. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but it's not quite the same.

[Bertbart]

anyone know a source for router templates for the Strat under-the-pickguard control cavity and the Strat jack hole? i don't need a template for the whole body or for the pickups, just for the control and jack cavities. i thought Stew Mac sold templates for those, but apparently not.

thanks.

You can draw the inside cavity outline and then take an exacto knife and follow the drawn line neatly. This will prevent feathering when you free hand the route along the line. Set the router depth to cut about a quarter of an inch and route next to the line. Then use your pattern bit with the bearing to follow the perimeter of the cut and it will look just as neat as using a template provided you drew nice symmetrical lines. I would suggest using a flat bottom forstner drill bit to hog out as much material as you can before routing.

[scott from _actual time_]

I'm suggesting you just make your own templates --the routes will be as clean as the templates you make.

i knew what you were suggesting. i've made dozens of my own templates, but it takes me longer to get them exactly perfect than it does to build the actual guitar, so i only make templates for shapes i'm going to build more than once. this Strat will be a one-off, so it would save me a lot of building time if i could find templates for those two cavities. sure, i could hack out crude ones and count on the pickguard to cover it, but i'd rather not do that unless i have no other choice--i have more pride in my work than that.

Bertbart, you must have steadier hands than i do. i would never route freehand on an exposed surface--one slip and i've got a $100 piece of firewood.

[Mickguard]

If you have a guitar body lying around, you could make the template from its cavities, it'd take you five minutes.

[scott from _actual time_]

If you have a guitar body lying around, you could make the template from its cavities, it'd take you five minutes.

much longer than that for me to do it--i always tape off the body so it doesn't get scratched, and i use a larger router bit bearing so the cutting edge won't hit the finished body, so i have to use a rabet bit to cut the template back down. but i don't have a strat body lying around to do that with, or i wouldn't have asked about templates.