This is going to be an ongoing edited post as a guide to what I use in my manufacture of sawdust, and hopefully a bass or two.
CAVEAT: I am very much new to guitar making. I may use tools incorrectly or inexpertly. Please interpret any comments I make on tools in that light. Because I don’t get a great result with a tool it isn’t automatically a poor tool. It may be enlightening if you are considering a similar track though.
At some point I may need to split this up if it gets unwieldy.
Levelling jig
ROUTER TABLE
I have the Rutlands benchtop router table and R15 motor and lift. It was a bit tricky to set up getting the insert plate flush with the top. The adjusters are underneath the top which makes it start fiddly as it is enclosed in a bag.
Once set up it seems fine – I used it to joint the two pieces of Poplar – the fence has the option to put in a slight offset so that you can use it as a jointer.
Exact adjustment took a few minutes, but it did a good enough job to pass the “hold the pieces up to the light and see if you can spot a gap” test.
I used a trend 12.7mm bit (standard kitchen fitter size) with a 50mm depth of cut.
ROUTERS
I have two handheld routers. Both come with parallel fences.
The smaller one, and the one most likely to see guitar based action is a Trend T4. It’s comparatively small and light. It has a 1/4″ collet (along with 6&8mm). It also has spped control.
Good: It takes standard Trend guide bushes, has dust collection, multiple collets as standard, Variable speed.
Less good: The depth scale isn’t the greatest for old bloke eyes, and doesn’t have a fine adjust, short of tweaking the bolts used as stops.
The Bigger router is a Makita RP1803J/2. This has 1/2″ and 1/4″ collets, dust extraction.
Good: Powerful, 1/2″ bits are very stable, so precise, The fence has microadjust (Great for getting bang on the centreline for a truss rod route) The depth stop is fine adjustable – want to go 0.2mm deeper? no problem. Guide bushes are quick release.
Less good: It’s a bit heavy and unwieldy. Fixed speed (OK for small stuff but not great if you want to use larger cutters), Makita guidebush sizing is, er, interesting. Instead of getting an 18mm bush, and knowing that’s 18mm OD you need to read the details and hope you get it right.
ROUTER CUTTERS
I’ll not be listing every bit here, just the interesting ones.
Template cutter – I use a cutter from Rutlands – 50mm long blades, top and bottom bearings, up and down shear and 35mm diameter. The big diameter puts the cutter approach and nice and low for a neater cut, the dual shear supposedly gives neat edges and it’s wide enough to do a body in one setting rather than having to adjust depth.
SANDER
I have the Triton TSPST450 sander. It’s a multifunction type – I can set it up as a belt sander or bobbin sander and it oscillates. So far it seems to do the trick, but I need to get more belts and tubes.
DUST EXTRACTION
Not breathing crud in is quite important to me, so I use dust extraction as much as possible.
For hand power tools I use a shop vac – a Karcher NT 22/1. It does have a power take off for auto switching, but I find it is off a bit quick, and doesn’t detect the hand held sander turning on, So I have a footswitch to manually operate it.
I have added an Axminster AW37E for the bench tools – the router table and band saw. This is High Volume, Low pressure. So far it seems to be working well. I saw how well when I looked down after a little bandsawing and saw dust everyewhere. This was the first time I had seen this. The reason? It was still connected to the router table!
PLANES
Hand planes seem core to guitar making, and I think a nice plane is a thing of beauty.
WoodRiver 4 1/2 Smoothing plane
This is the main workhorse, and nicest plane I have. It’s capable of much more than I am. To flatten stock it’s not perfect as being a smoothing plane it’s short so can follow the shape of wood, with with a clean, sharp blade and a wipe on the base with a candle and it is capable of tissue paper thin shavings.
Axminster Rider Low Angle Jack plane
This is a longer plane, so theoretically better at flattening than the smoothing plane, but the cut isn’t as nice, and the blade angle isn’t easy to adjust, so it’s a bit of a get it roughly flat then onto the woodriver to smoth out.
Aminster Rider 60 1/2 block plane
A nice small plane that feels nice and weighty for those little jobs like flattening a fillet over a truss rod
Band Saw
I have a Record Power Sabre 250. I chose this because of the combination of capacity, but being compact.
The throat is deep enough to thickness a neck blank, or to rough thickness a fender style headstock.
The size also means rough cutting a body is reasonably comfortable.
It’s so much easier and quicker than trying to use a jigsaw, with a lot more accuracy.
Fret Slotting jig
To slot a fingerboard I have the jig from Bagpress. I have only used it the once so far, but it meant the slotting was a quick job, and looks neat. https://bagpress.com/Guitar_Making_Products.html
Chisels
I have a number of Narex 8116 chisels as “best” right the wat to a 3mm for nut sots. When sharp the can be pushed through wood by hand. Lovely!