how to thread

[toonman]

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

[pilotjones]

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

[Geoff St. Germaine]

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

[pilotjones]

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.

[Scott French]

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!

[wilser]

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.

[pilotjones]

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.

[iamlowsound]

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