Steel Guitar Builder

Stunning wood Larry! The template...is it made out of stiff material?
I am thinking about how you clean cut the guitar?
For the wood necks I rough cut with my offshore band saw(yeah crappo) and used a 1/2" pattern bit in the router...ran the pilot bearing against a 1/4" template made out of oak. Made a finished cut.

Larry, that is a NICE chunk of wood. How thick is the body going to be when finished?

Allan.....

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Bent:
The template material is only thin cardboard. I had tried my Bosch router on a scrap piece of the Limba with a brand new bit and it had a tendency to tear out the smaller birds eye type figuring of the wood. I decided to clean up the cut by hand with small hand planes, spoke shaves and sanding, using a machinists square to keep true . So far, it seems to be working out pretty well. On down the line I'd like to learn how to use a router a lot better. I'm sure my technique leaves a bit to be desired. Definitely going to be studying up and practicing the router skills before I go any further.

Allan,
The body will be 1 3/4 inches when done. The neck will of course taper, but I think I'll still leave it pretty thick.

The three pieces of wood joined for this body came from Gilmer. I chose them on the basis of how the grain would run when the pieces were joined. I can definitely recommend these guys for instrument wood. Not the cheapest, but very nice quality, and as we said in the other thread, it's nice to be able to buy exactly the piece of wood that is pictured for sale.

*bump*

I'd love to see this guitar in it's current state, and hear about progress made.

Hi guys,

Does anyone have a Asher lap steel template like Larry worked with on this project? I'm looking for exactly this shape but I can't seem to find it anywhere. Thanks!

Cheers!

Brandsma