I was wandering how is the best way to carve the top of a guitar/bass body like a les paul or prs guitar. thanks
john

Scott French did a step-by-step. I think it's in the FAQ - top of page.

I don't know about best, but I'm partial to an angle grinder with a sandpaper disc (thanks to Nateo).

Yeah, I was thinking you could combine the two- maybe route 1/32" shallow of your plan, then angle grinder - since I'd be afraid of pure freehand. And Scott's router followed by planes is about a thousand miles beyond skill level.

Using the plane is a lot easier than you would think. The differnce is mistakes made with a plane can be a lot smaller than an angle grinder hogging off a ton of wood.

I was originally shown how to do it with a chisel for the steps and a plane for the smoothing. This is the long painful way to do it. Other people route then plane, or route then grind/sand. I don't know if I would personally grind the whole thing from the start but if it works for you guys then more power to you!

fyi, I'm using Scott's technique and it's working wonders for me, I'm using a spoke shave instead of a plane though.

I dunno, working with planes just seems like it's a black art you've got to learn from a master, and that's just to set up and sharpen them, before you can even start to learn how to use them properly.

Shavings are much better than sawdust, though.

[edit] And I'm not putting down using planes in any way- quite the contrary, I think it would be a very rewarding way to work the wood.

Well I am planning on doing most of my shaping with a belt sander and rough grit paper. That actually works very fast, you just have to know how to use it right.

lowsound