Body Shaping Help Please

[User01]

Hey

I plan to make a replacement body for my Ibanez RG321.

However, before I do so, I just want to check something.

Now my question to you is this:

What is the best way to tidy up the shaping of the Body? I plan to draw my shape on to the body blank with a Sharpie, and then roughly cut it out with a handsaw (this will leave me with a few cm/inches of excess wood around the body outline).

Once I have the roughly cut shape, what is the best way to tidy it up? Do I use sandpaper? A plane? Rasps? Or perhaps something else?

Just to clarify, what is the best way to get from this:

To this:

A lot of what I can do is limited due to the fact that I have limited tools and no access to any wood shops.

These are the tools I available:

* Hammer & Chisel

* Several Rasps/Files

* Several Screw Drivers

* Plane

* Electric Drill

* Several Hand Saws

* Spoke Shave

* An assortment of Sandpaper (Coarse & Fine)

I would be extremely grateful if you would be able to help me out

Thanks!

[fridge]

well at first i would have suggested using a router and a template but that is unnavailible... i would say get a flat peice of wood or buy a sanding block and use some good old fashioned elbow grease.

if you intend to build more guitars i suggest getting urself a router, flush trim bit and make yourself some templates. beleive me it saves so mush work and frustration.

(keep in mind i am by no means an expert at all and have limited experience with hand tools )

good luck to you my friend

[avengers63]

+1 to the router, bits, and templates. You'll save untold hours with a $100 investment. While no power tools are truly necessary, if you have the means, buy one, borrow one, whatever.

But until then...

This is said with the presumption that you will start with a flat blank that is at the desired thickness.

* Hammer & Chisel

The chisel can remove small bits of material with care & finesse, but that's not what you're wanting. I personally feel they are too imprecise for large-scale removal, so I prefer other tools.

* Several Rasps/Files

These are GREAT at rapid removal, but the area is almost guaranteed to be uneven & will be very rough afterwards. If you shape the outline with these, you'll need to clean it up afterwards. But they WILL get it all off in a hurry.

* Several Screw Drivers

Not for wood removal. Put them away and use the right tool.

* Plane

This would be your go-to tool to smooth out the sides after gnawing at it with the rasps. Or you could just use planes to begin with and rasp in the corners.

* Electric Drill

Not for removal around the edges. You CAN use it with some forstners to hog out the control cavity and pickup holes.

* Several Hand Saws

These would be a great choice if a band saw is unavailable.

* Spoke Shave

For carving & rounding over the edges, beveling, etc.

* An assortment of Sandpaper (Coarse & Fine)

Sandpaper wasn't invented until power tools were invented. It's ONLY purpose is to remove marks left by the machines. Before that, scrapers smoothed out the surface. Don't try to use sandpaper for wood removal.

Band saw or hand saw the outline as close as you physically can so you have as little material to remove as humanly possible.

Take all the tools you have and practice using them on some scrap before trying them out on your body blank. Ultimately, you'll find out which you like the feel of and can work with the best. When you do, those are the best tools for YOU to use.

[westhemann]

Best tool I ever bought was a $100 spindle sander...

http://www.amazon.com/Grizzly-G0538-Oscill...5695&sr=8-1

Mine is a ryobi from home depot...the one linked is just so you know what I am talking about...it is what I use to shape bodies after rough cut...I don't use templates for body shape.....though I plan on starting to do that soon,since I want to produce so many of one style.

[Woodenspoke]

Shaping the body without power tools is the easy part. Using a drill bit and chisels to remove the cavity for the controls, the neck pocket and the pickups is insane. But I think you are pulling a fast one on the forum and should be banned.

My guess is you are wasting our time posting nonsense for us to think about. Is that a Porter Cable power tool box in the second picture. looks about the right size for a jig saw. Also the burn marks on the bottom at the apex of the V is another give away you used a power tool, a hand saw would never burn the wood. How much wood could you cut using that list of tools given the amount of wood in the first picture.

Though so, busted, hand tools ha.

[WezV]

Shaping the body without power tools is the easy part. Using a drill bit and chisels to remove the cavity for the controls, the neck pocket and the pickups is insane. But I think you are pulling a fast one on the forum and should be banned.

My guess is you are wasting our time posting nonsense for us to think about. Is that a Porter Cable power tool box in the second picture. looks about the right size for a jig saw. Also the burn marks on the bottom at the apex of the V is another give away you used a power tool, a hand saw would never burn the wood. How much wood could you cut using that list of tools given the amount of wood in the first picture.

Though so, busted, hand tools ha.

bit harsh spoke!

worst case scenario is that he does have more tools than he says. so what? its only wasting your time if you bother to respond - and surely helpful advice is good even if its not this guy who needs it... somebody will.

for my first guitar i did actually cut the body out by hand with a coping saw, rasp it to shape and did the cavities with a chisel..... and you can tell. i certainly wont ever be bothering to do it that way again

[WezV]

might be worth re-reading the first post as well - i just did and i dont think thats a guitar he is making

[RAI6]

Is that a Porter Cable power tool box in the second picture. looks about the right size for a jig saw. Also the burn marks on the bottom at the apex of the V is another give away you used a power tool, a hand saw would never burn the wood. How much wood could you cut using that list of tools given the amount of wood in the first picture.

Though so, busted, hand tools ha.

Not his pictures, but pictures of what he would like to make....

[Woodenspoke]

Not his pictures, but pictures of what he would like to make....

I guess you are right I jumped the gun, Im bad Sorry user01??? My problem of just looking at pictures and paraphrasing someones post. Too dam lazy to read it through.

I still think hes nuts for trying to make one without power tools as everyone has pointed out.

[User01]

i could understand why you would think im mad for attempting to make a guitar body without power tools.

its like me thinking people are 'mad' for using MS Paint to edit photos when there are far superior and better suited programs like Adobe Photoshop available.

the fact of the matter is that im a student with hardly any money and access only to my dad's garage tools.

im not disputing the effectiveness of power tools, or suggesting that you're wrong for using them. im just making do with what i have.

thanks alot to everyone who gave me helpful advice and didnt try to call me out!

[Woodenspoke]

thanks alot to everyone who gave me helpful advice and didnt try to call me out!

I said I was sorry???

[Narcissism]

I made my bass without powertools... until I got to the pickup cavities and control cavity... But then I built a corvus and I used a drill and chisel to make my pickup cavities. Look at my build threads in my signiature.

You'll notice that the bass isn't the most amazing shape, but I did get the shape I wanted using nothing but a dowel, sand paper, hammer/chisel/rasp (chasp). I did not use a roundover bit either.

You'll also notice that the pickup cavity on the corvus isn't the most beautiful thing in the world either. But then again, neither was Eddie Van Halen's first one? He only used a chisel. I fixed the asthetic problem with a pickup ring though.

[ihocky2]

Being a student with little money you can get a cheap router at Harbor Freight if you can get a little money together. It is not a quality tool, but is better than a chisel if you don't have experience with either of them. A selection of 2 or 3 bits is all you'll need.

[Dirge for november]

I'm based in the Netherlands, and here I got a router for 40 euros... It works perfectly fine, and even has adjustable speed settings. There is seriously no difference in results, though I suspect it won't last as long as a serious router.

In case of rasps, I used one to shape my neck, and it went insanely fast, and not very rough. My neck was hard maple, so I reckon your body will be easier going.

Cheers.

[sthell]

user01: i used a rasp with really big teeth to shape the body and sanded after wards. There are many types of rasps (straight, thin, semi-circular). It can be done, and they're only 2 euros each i guess? For the cavities i used a drill with big things that you put in it's head, i think they're called router bits? Sorry not very good with technical english. After you've used a drill you can use some chisels to make straight edges. I recommend drilling the cavities first and the using a spokeshave to make the body bump (if you're gonna have one). Cheers! hope it helped.