A Bit about Trimming....

I actually did make back into the shop last week to smooth out my guitar body edges.  This is done using a trim bit in a bench-mounted router.

Trim Bit

A trim bit is a straight bit which has a little bearing on the tip.  The bearing is meant to run against some sort of guide that you want to trim to.  In my case, the material I want to trim is the wood left on the outside of my line after my rough cut through the band saw.  My guide is the the original MDF shape I have been using.

So I hot glue my MDF guide to my guitar body.

Hot Glue on My Figure

I use painter's tape to protect my maple and to make it easier to remove the MDF afterward.  Four little dabs of glue in the corners on the tape and then I quickly place the MDF guide on top matching it up with my pencil line.

Now, I put the trim bit in the router and set the height so that the bit bearing is aligned to the height of the MDF and the cutting edge lines up with the entire thickness of my guitar body.

Setting the Bit Height

You could imagine gluing the MDF to the bottom of the guitar body and using a router bit with a bearing at the bottom.  This kind of bit is called a flush(ing) bit.  There are reasons you might want to do that instead, but using a trim bit is better when you can.

I run the bit around the perimeter of my guitar body.  The bit turns counter-clockwise and so I push the guitar around the bit rotating it counter-clockwise as well.  This ensures that I am moving against the push of the bit which is safer and easier to control and less likely to cause blowout.

Routing Around Carefully

I have to be careful around the horns to go very slowly and to rotate the wood around the bit and not vice-versa so as not to blow out the corners.  A little burning happens because I am hesitant, but I will be able to sand that out later.

After I am done, I can take off my MDF and painter's tape (and dried glue) and I am left with a nice smooth edge.

Smooth Edge

Here it is finished:

Trimmed Guitar Blank

And here it is along with Ed's body he has been throwing together as well:

Body Double

Ed's body is a little further along than mine.

My next step on the body itself is to trim out a little groove to put some edging along the edge of the top.  But, this requires that I have the edging to measure it, which requires spending some money.  Money - I have none, so this will be on hold until I come across some cash.  I could start working on my electronics, but that will also eventually require spending some money.  The neck and headstock...same - money.  Maybe my guitar is on hold for a bit.  We'll see.