Rounding over the contours

[Gregory]

When do you use the rounding over bit, before or after you put in the contours (ie. armrest, gutrest.) It seems like it would be hard to use the router after I do the contours because it would tilt the router base. I could try to round it out by hand but it probably wouldn't look as neat.

So how do you round over the contours?

[davros]

Fact is, you can't really use a router to round the contours. I rounded the front and back of mine before cutting the contours, and rounded the contours by hand, with sandpaper. As far as i've seen most contours are not rounded as heavily as the front and backs of most guitars.

If you want an accurate radius, you can make a radiused sanding block, but bear in mind the corner you are rounding will not be 90 degrees, so that makes it pretty difficult. Alternatively, make a template and sand by hand until the template fits!

[skibum5545]

Rout the roundover before you do the carved contours. When you carve the contours, the exact radius isn't too important; use sandpaper until it looks good and even.