Working on a guitar

[Richard Hutchings]

I know there a musical instrument forum but I want some feedback from you hand tool guys. I got myself into some trouble on the back of this guitar. I should have glued in the back strip as a 3 piece assembly but I didn't so I needed to create a long dado on the back after it was glued to the body. I know, that's 2 mistakes. If you follow me you'll know I'm terrible at following steps. Anyway, after taking a break from it and doing some thinking, I need to fix the large uneven dado I made to clean up the edges for my inlay/long flat stick of something. Rosewood is so hard and chips really easy which is why I need to widen it again. It's already an inch+. If I go much wider I may as well make a new back and I don't want to do that. Moving forward is what needs to happen.

I have a wooden rebate plane coming in the mail from ebay and I'm thinking that may be the best way to do this. I never want my router near this again. I don't think I have any good pictures but I'll take a look. This shows the back without the center strip. I should have left it but I was confident in my ability to add it after the fact so I wasn't worried. Then I picked up THE ROUTER.

Back installed_600x800.jpg

[Phil Mueller]

If all you need to do is create two clean and parallel side walls for the inlay, I would likely just use a metal straight edge and sharp knife/scalpel to scribe a deep line. Then a sharp chisel to pare to the knife line. If the back is flat and you need to ensure a consistent depth in the groove, a router plane would be my choice.

Routers are one of my few often used power tools, but for precision work a good guide fence, or jigs are worth the time to make and/or money to buy. Things can go wrong really fast. Beautiful guitar, by the way. Love to see it when it’s completed.

[Richard Hutchings]

That's exactly what I tried after the router. I think my knife wandered a little. Also, Its difficult to clamp a straight edge to a guitar body. This is the method I want to use, I just need to do it better. A good marking knife would help.

[Phil Mueller]

It’s important that the first few knife cuts are very light to keep the knife from following the grain rather than the straight edge. An Xacto will work. When it’s difficult to clamp a straight edge, double stick sandpaper to one side of the straight edge. Keeps it from moving when holding it by hand. I would think if you glue in the inlay with dark glue (titebond or hide glue), any minor gaps would be hidden.

[steven c newman]

Get a panel of 1/4" Luann Plywood....cut it to shape...and make sure it is the size to allow the rebate to show....think..Template. Then make the cuts following the template.