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bearing router bits?

bassgod76

bassgod76

Garbage bassist, but I love this goofy instrument
Mar 13, 2003
5,329
1,133
South Florida
#1
I currently use a collar router setup for cavities. I want to move into a bearing style setup.

I really want a bit for neck pockets too. I'm worried that a 3/8" router bit won't get into tight corners.

Any experience with that Stew Mac bits?
 
#2
I use the small Stew Mac top bearing bit just for the corners of pickup routs as they advise. The bearing is a rather loose slip fit on the shaft, not a press fit. All in all, a rather delicate tool that can't be worked vigorously.

There are times when that bit does not provide a small enough radius in the corners of a rout, depending on the pickup being used. In that case, I pull out my carving tools and grab a straight gouge that has the right sweep and width to carve the corners a bit tighter.

Easy to do with bare wood, but if the body already has a factory finish on it, the thick polyester film can get messed up if you're not careful with the gouge.

So I carefully position the gouge and make a couple of light taps with a brass mallet to score the poly coating. Then I give the gouge a smart tap to drive it through the finish and into the wood. After that's done, I put the mallet down and just push the gouge down to the floor of the rout by hand. I use a gouge that's a bit wider than needed, so the adjacent side walls of the rout help guide the cut. You can get a very tidy result in a short time.

A sharp gouge hates being driven through a poly finish, so I apologize to it and resharpen it afterward. But I don't promise that it won't happen again.

On edit: if you're using a flush cut router template and top bearing bits, just leave the template in place after the routing. It makes a perfect starting guide for the gouge cuts in the corners.
 
#3
You want a 1/2" diameter top bearing pattern bit. That will give you a 1/4" radius which should be fine for most necks. I am not familiar with the Dano neck, so I can't comment on that specifically, you may want to measure it. I would think 3/8" would be too tight for a neck pocket.

I use a 1/2" cutting length for most things. The longer the cutting length the thicker your template has to be if you want to do shallow passes. I had to do a 3/32" route to inset a tele style control plate, and someone, (not me) had broken my bit. The only other pattern bit we had was 1". My template was 1/2", so I had to block up my template to do it.

I am not familiar with the Stew-Mac bits, but I haven't really read anything bad about them. We use Freud at work.
 
#4
Stewmac bits are made by whiteside, i think. I have used them and found them to be sharp and effective. The 3/8" bit is nice for bartolini pickups, as they mostly have 3/16" radius corners, so they fit well. It's not made for hogging out, so treat it gently.

I have switched to amana bits, because i find them to be a better value than stewmac. I like the 1/2" x 1/2" and 1/4" bits the most.
 
#6
Most bearing bits have a locking sleeve that sits on the shaft above the bearing with a little grub screw that is designed to prevent the bearing from sliding up and down the shaft while spinning. Double check that the locking sleeve is tight and won't move. If the bearing slides off the template, you will gouge a large chunk into your work piece, most likely destroying the template in the process, and even worse, probably injuring yourself as well.

Just a heads up from a guy who very narrowly escaped a trip to the E.R.

Edit: I just noticed the Stewmac bits don't have the locking sleeve. I don't have any experience with their bits other than their binding channel bit which has the bearing on the bottom.
 
#8
http://www.rockler.com/product.cfm?page=25160&site=ROCKLER

I use this one for pickup cavities. I have the [Invalid or Expired Link Removed]3/8 bit too, but I still ended up having to carve out the corners for Bart pickups (EMG 45 shape). So I stopped using it, as there isn't that much difference and still had to carve out the corners anyway.
The shorter the bit, the better, I had one that was longer and found myself either having to use a thicker template as to not take too big of a bite risking the bit digging into the template. This bit allowed me to take smaller bites and still use my 1/2" MDF templates.
 
#9
For pickups with tight corners (like EMG with 1/8" radius), I use a 1/4" straight-cut bit with no bearing, lowering the bit such that the shank rides up against the MDF template. The only tricky part is finding a relatively short 1/4" straight-cut bit.

This 0.25" x 0.5" CNC bit works well (#45204) and is pretty cheap:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
#10
HaMMerHeD said:
For pickups with tight corners (like EMG with 1/8" radius), I use a 1/4" straight-cut bit with no bearing, lowering the bit such that the shank rides up against the MDF template. The only tricky part is finding a relatively short 1/4" straight-cut bit.

This 0.25" x 0.5" CNC bit works well (#45204) and is pretty cheap:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

Thats an excellent plan. I have a my bit now that I have been using.
 
#11
HaMMerHeD said:
For pickups with tight corners (like EMG with 1/8" radius), I use a 1/4" straight-cut bit with no bearing, lowering the bit such that the shank rides up against the MDF template. The only tricky part is finding a relatively short 1/4" straight-cut bit.

This 0.25" x 0.5" CNC bit works well (#45204) and is pretty cheap:
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
Click to expand...

I used to do that as well until I had a bit that got hot enough to tear into my MDF template.

Now I just offset my templates so I can use a 1/2" bearing on a 1/4" bit.
 
#12
If you use a Forstner or brad-point bit to drill the corners before you use your router, the drill bit will define the corner radius, and tear-out will be less likely. If you're using a template designed for use with a pattern bit, you can align the drill bit with the template to assure the cuts will align as expected.

The offset designed into templates designed to be used with guide bushings means that changing to pattern bits will require new templates.
 
#14
CH Design said:
I used to do that as well until I had a bit that got hot enough to tear into my MDF template.

Now I just offset my templates so I can use a 1/2" bearing on a 1/4" bit.
Click to expand...

I suppose it would be worth mentioning that I only do that on corners. I use a regular 1/2" diameter pattern bit for the rest of the cavity. The 1/4" bit is only in use for...i don't know, less than a minute, I suppose.
 
#19
It seems I do as most of you do. Hog out cavitys with the drill press then I switch to the larger stew-mac then to the smaller one. The only pups I have a problem with are the corners of the "P" ones. I wish they made smaller radius follower bits than the small stew-mac ones.
 

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