Hey guys,

Right now I'm curious as to what the advantages and disadvantages are to each of these processes when it comes to shaping your body.

More often than not, you hear that most people do a rough cutting of the body with the bandsaw, and then fine tune it with the router. There are some (Mr. LeCompte I know for sure) that shape the body entirely with the router, doing several passes of shallow cuts.

I'm just wondering why one process is more prevalent over the other and why people do what. My first tool that I bought a couple days ago is a Bosch router and table. I've made my template with a jigsaw and sanded it square and smooth. It seems to me that routing out the body would save on the purchase of a bandsaw for the moment (though the bandsaw has plenty of other uses, I believe a jigsaw might be able to get me by, or a router with a template for anything I desire).

Just curious, any help and advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tryxx

For me, it's easier to cut the body out, and use the router to finalize the shape. I just prefer this method, it saves wear on the router and resharpening bits. Also it cut down on possible bit jumps and grabs as you don't have the bit fully encompassed when cutting. This is just my preference, and I am sure others will have theirs too.

my 2 cents worth

For me, it's easier to cut the body out, and use the router to finalize the shape. I just prefer this method, it saves wear on the router and resharpening bits. Also it cut down on possible bit jumps and grabs as you don't have the bit fully encompassed when cutting. This is just my preference, and I am sure others will have theirs too.

my 2 cents worth

I haven't even used my router yet, it'll be the first time when I do, but I was to understand with the shallow cuts that the wear on the bit wasn't that much. Though I'm sure heavier and more dense woods put lots of strain on the bit.

Thanks for the input, though.

I think as long as you have a sharp bit and don't take too much off at once, using the router is great. I cut mine out first though, like MusicLogic said I would want the bit surrounded by wood.

When I used a router to get the final shape for the first time I think I just had an old dull bit, and I got a lot of burning. It was just a pain to sand that out.

For me, it's easier to cut the body out, and use the router to finalize the shape. I just prefer this method, it saves wear on the router and resharpening bits. Also it cut down on possible bit jumps and grabs as you don't have the bit fully encompassed when cutting. This is just my preference, and I am sure others will have theirs too.

my 2 cents worth

+1! When you encompass the router bit in wood you're hogging thru a whole bunch of timber at once. This puts undue strain on the router and the bit. Just two more cents...

Hey guys,

Right now I'm curious as to what the advantages and disadvantages are to each of these processes when it comes to shaping your body.

More often than not, you hear that most people do a rough cutting of the body with the bandsaw, and then fine tune it with the router. There are some (Mr. LeCompte I know for sure) that shape the body entirely with the router, doing several passes of shallow cuts.

I'm just wondering why one process is more prevalent over the other and why people do what. My first tool that I bought a couple days ago is a Bosch router and table. I've made my template with a jigsaw and sanded it square and smooth. It seems to me that routing out the body would save on the purchase of a bandsaw for the moment (though the bandsaw has plenty of other uses, I believe a jigsaw might be able to get me by, or a router with a template for anything I desire).

Just curious, any help and advice would be appreciated.

Thanks,

Tryxx


It's been a few years, so let me see if I can recall the steps I used:
1. Make templates;
2. Position a clear acrylic template over the body blank - it's transparent, so I can see the grain clearly - when I'm happy with what I see, I trace around the template with a soft pencil;
3. Bandsaw to shape, leaving the line;
4. Affix a routing template to the body blank;
5. Using pattern bits and/or spiral bits with guide bushings, cut joinery, recesses for electronics, and bring silhouette to final dimensions;
6. Using templates, mark out shaped body blanks with contour limit lines;
7. Hog off majority of waste at router table and bandsaw - leaving layout lines visible;
8. Bring to final shape with patternmakers' rasps, spokeshaves, and carving tools;
9. Prep for finish

Since you brought up my name I'll tell why I do it the way I do it...up until recently I didn't have a decent enough bandsaw to do the job of roughing out the body. Well, I did, but it's setup with a wider blade for resawing and I don't feel like swapping out the blade just to rough out a body. I start out with a 5/8" diameter bit. Once I've got the channel deep enough I remove the template and switch to a shallow 1/2" bit. This gives me a flat surface for the router to ride on with no chance of tipping and the wide channel keep the 1/2" bearing from binding. I switch to longer 1/2" bits as needed until I finally plunge through. It takes about 35-40 minutes to cut out a body like this depending on the hardness of the wood. I cut out four bodies this week like this.

I take the big rectangular body blank use the body shaped template and pencil in the outline of the body where I want it then do the measuring for the bridge and the neck joint. I then route for the neck joint using a template. The reason I do this before cutting out the body is because you have all that solid wood to double stickey tape the template to. You aren't hanging the neck joint template off the end of the body and trying to route it out. Once the neck pocket is routed out then rough cut the body shape on the band saw then double stick tape the body template on to the body and use the router to smooth it out. Then a spindle sander to smooth the edges......t Well that is the way I do it.......:D

I rough cut on the bandsaw and then tidy up with the router on a table and the template screwed to the body, the template is face down on the table and I use a big diam pattern bit, smooth as a baby's butt.

now im no pro but ive made about 13 bodies in the last 3 months
this is how I do it.
scroll out all layer shapes on the bandsaw.
either leave extra for a screw to align the layers seam, a dowel or just be really accurate!

now I have been deep carving mine for the uber custom look keep in mind
glue scrolled out layers, glue, take back to bandsaw and remove and odd sections, clean edges with OC spindle sander.
tale 3/8 roundover bit step route edges.
shape with microplane, and flies, and paper.
done.

or you can glue up big rectangles joint then glue, thickness and do the same that way, removing headstock lam first of course.
it'll give you cleaner seam lineups.

but since i am not doing this for $$ I like the hand carving with the planes, etc. I am doing some really involved shapes too. and it really diosent take that much time plus its a great workout!

with alot of my designs a router 1/2" buit isnt even possible, see below
plus I get that really clean sharp edge line to the top with a file instead or roundover bit.

Love the grain on that first piece, tribal3140! Beauty!

Matt

I bet Carl Thompson is drooling over those bodies....LOL

Thanks for all the replies. All of these posts have been pretty helpfull, and it looks like I'll just be saving up for that Jet 14" Bandsaw I had my eyes on.

Just as a side note, if you intend to build lots of basses/guitars then by all means, get the bandsaw. But if on the other hand you plan on building just a few, then a jigsaw is perfectly fine and lots cheaper. I built my first 5 or so basses with the jigsaw and no bandsaw access.

Thanks for all the replies. All of these posts have been pretty helpfull, and it looks like I'll just be saving up for that Jet 14" Bandsaw I had my eyes on.

I'll sell you mine. Too bad you are so far away. I need a bigger one..t

I'll sell you mine. Too bad you are so far away. I need a bigger one..t

Yeah, I'm just wanting the one with the open stand from Woodcraft; it's $399.99. With shipping and insurance ti'd probably be well over that.

I tried the router only method for my first two bodies. I hate plunging 1-3/4" into a board to try to cut away the majority of the blank, cuz any small twitch and that router bit grabs fiercely. It's far quicker to slice away the huge chunks of waste with a bandsaw, and then carefully smooth away the sides with the router. But, bandsaws cost money. If you do the plunge method, walk that cut around so you're not trapping the bit in a channel that's only as wide as the bit itself.

For my next body, I'll be making a plexiglas template for the body, and I'll set the router bit with the bearing on top to ride along the edge of the template. After the first smoothing pass is done, I'll remove the template and just let the bearing follow the previous cut. I'll be leaving maybe 1/8" excess outside the lines so I can do a lot of hand scraping and carving and sanding.

For some reason I was under the impression that when you did the router only method you went half the distance from each side and meeting in the middle. I'm assuming this is wrong?

I surely wouldn't. I'd rely on the bearing to follow the wall of the previous cut. Trying to cut from the other side, I'd worry about inaccuracy and accidentally cutting into the bodyline. Maybe if you put the bearing on the tip and followed the wall, it would work...

If you go halfway from both sides then you need a way to perfectly align the template on both sides (a very "challenging" thing to do). If the alignment is off even slightly then the two sides won't quite match up and you will have a lot of sanding to do to get the edges right.

Thanks for all the replies. All of these posts have been pretty helpfull, and it looks like I'll just be saving up for that Jet 14" Bandsaw I had my eyes on.

I bought a 20" bandsaw because a 14" simply wasn't lage enough to do the job quickly and easily. You might want to test-drive a friend's 14" bandsaw to rough-cut a body blank before you buy.

You may also want to consider taking a shaped bass body with you to stores that sell bandsaws and, with the saw turned off, see if you can make all of the turns needed on a 14" saw.

For some reason I was under the impression that when you did the router only method you went half the distance from each side and meeting in the middle. I'm assuming this is wrong?

You can use a pattern bit to cut from one side and a flush-trim bit to cut from the other - both cuts will follow the same template - OR you can buy a combo bit that has two bearings and can be used as both a pattern and flush-trim bit.

In either case, it'll be critical to read the woodgrain carefully to avoid tear-out and injury.