Once a design is aesthetically working, i get down to the detailed design work, creating super-accurate routing templates.

In this case, the hollow body requires more templates than i normally would need for a body. The body will be made of two 1″ thick pieces of lumber that will be mated together. Before joining them, they will be hollowed out. The top and back pieces have slightly different routing patterns to account for the arm and rib “comfort carves”. The pickguard and control + soundhole placement also needs to be done very accurately.

Once my initial sketches started to evolve more toward final designs, i started working at full size, so i could lay things out accurately. I don’t have any CAD training, but my background as a graphic designer allowed me to use Adobe Illustrator to create very accurate vector drawings to scale, which i have been able to use to create perfect templates for cutting and routing.

Laser-cut routing templates allow me to lay out and cut all the elements in perfect registration. Because my template supplier knows the exact thickness of the kerf cut by the laser, i can offset the cutting paths by half that thickness in order to get parts that mate up perfectly. This is especially important for the neck heel and pocket. After routing, the joint is usually so tight that the body can be lifted by the neck with a friction-fit joint only.

Just the drilling for my neck bolt system requires seven separate drilling operations for each bolt… three per hole on the body side, four per hole on the neck side. Getting all of those holes bang-on is critical, otherwise the bolts won’t line up with the threaded inserts in the neck. So having accurate templates for the body and neck heel in perfect registration is a very important part of making a quality instrument built to very fine tolerances.

Eventually, i want to be doing moving from Illustrator to a CAD application and executing these operations on a CNC machine, rather than having to take the intermediate step of creating templates and using a table router. In my opinion, stuff that requires dead-on accuracy is best done by machines, so the more of these critical operations that can be done on a computer-controlled carving machine, the better. This is a controversial subject among builders and players, but i’ll write more on that subject later.

Today’s supplier shout-out is to Guy Hilliard at Sawdust & Noise. They’re a small shop with laser-cutting, laser-engraving and CNC capabilities. I first learned of Sawdust & Noise through a luthier event hosted by the Golden Triangle Luthier’s Group at A&M Wood Specialty out in Cambridge a few years ago. There was this tiny, laser-cut acrylic Strat “business card” for Sawdust & Noise in the package we got from A&M, and i was very impressed.

As we started tooling up for building, i knew a set of accurate laser-cut routing templates would be the way to go, and i knew Sawdust & Noise could deliver. And they did. I’ve got a full set of headstock, neck, fretboard, neck pocket, body and control cavity templates just waiting to be used, and more will be coming soon.

Guy also gave me this as a little bonus…

… my own version of the “business card” that put me in touch with him in the first place. The precision and detail are incredible. He can produce items like this as promotional giveaways, but the range of what he can do is pretty much limitless.

If you need anything laser-cut or CNC’d, give Guy a call… he’s a pleasure to deal with, his rates are very reasonable, and the quality is top-notch. We’re looking forward to sending more business his way!