Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Storebought or Homemade: Tell Us!
Gibsonman
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri May 11, 2018 4:17 pm

Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by Gibsonman »

Can anyone tell me where I can get the plans to build the Cory Router Guide?
Also those of you that have used it what are your thoughts on it. Thanks in advance.
tippie53
Posts: 7011
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:09 pm
Location: Hegins, Pa
Contact:

Re: Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by tippie53 »

not sure it may be covered in his book
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
Bob Gleason
Posts: 412
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2015 2:45 pm
Contact:

Re: Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by Bob Gleason »

What is a Cory router guide?
ruby@magpage.com
Posts: 1564
Joined: Thu May 24, 2012 8:03 am
Location: Chestertown Maryland

Re: Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by ruby@magpage.com »

I have 2 of his books on building kit guitars and it is not in either

Ed
Ed M
Gibsonman
Posts: 38
Joined: Fri May 11, 2018 4:17 pm

Re: Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by Gibsonman »

In the book Building Kit Acoustic Guitars written by Mr. Bill Cory on page 116 at the bottom he has a web site that gives you the plans, but looks like the site has been taken down. www.nichebooks.com/router/guide.pdf.
tippie53
Posts: 7011
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:09 pm
Location: Hegins, Pa
Contact:

Re: Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by tippie53 »

try amazon
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
twenty2late
Posts: 81
Joined: Sat May 28, 2016 8:48 am
Location: Savannah, GA

Re: Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by twenty2late »

Unfortunately, when Bill Cory stopped building, he also seems to have gotten rid of his book sales, which I still use all of the time.

However, the guide that he used in his Martin Style Kit book, I wouldn't completely recommend unless you are only building 1 guitar and have unlimited time for fixing imperfections. A slight tilt of the hand during a distraction could easily ruin everything you've accomplished so far.

I did a lot of thinking and planning, and ultimately designed my own based on the Tom Ribbecke jig. It was an exercise in patience, but only cost me about $70 to build, and I have had almost perfect success with it and the sense of accomplishment afterwards provides a real feeling of competence!

I'm fairly certain that the only improvement you could get over this method is by using one of John Hall's Fleishman machines, so it then becomes a balance of how much you want to spend versus how much work you want to put into it. Spend little on the Cory guide...lots of work. Medium on the Ribbecke...medium work. More on the Fleishman...near perfection!

The attached pic is a simple pic of mine, and is simply a tower of plywood, with a carriage designed around my palm router that rides on drawer glides with springs balancing the weight. I then use the bearing set from Stewmac to dial in the exact width of the cuts combined with the router for the depth, with lots of test cuts on spare wood!

Hope this helps!

V/R
Ken
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Bob Gleason
Posts: 412
Joined: Fri Jul 03, 2015 2:45 pm
Contact:

Re: Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by Bob Gleason »

The whole topic of binding cutters/machines is very interesting. For over 40 years I've pursued the "ONE". I've tried almost all of the configurations I've seen. Everyone had it's drawbacks. For me consistency is very important, but speed of setup and the time it takes to do the job is equally important. The cutter I admire the most, or I might say the builder's I admire the most, is the age old one that is horizontally bench mounted, with the builder holding the body vertically to the cutter. This one really defines the saying "Trust your abilities". I'm just too chicken to try it. Recently , on the web, I saw the unit made by the Elevate company. A web search will turn up the unit. It appears to be a pricey take off on the traditional horizontal bench mounted cutter. It looks like it would be fast to use. Some of it's design innovations are lost when using on smaller instruments, but it might not be too hard to improve on that. Anyone here using one? I did call one of the builders who endorse the cutter on the Elevate sight, and he had good things to say about it. BTW, I currently use the Fleishman style binding machine that I got from John and it does the job very well. I think it is especially good for less experienced builders and those who do a lot of repeat shapes because it is hard to make serious mistakes.
tippie53
Posts: 7011
Joined: Fri Mar 03, 2006 7:09 pm
Location: Hegins, Pa
Contact:

Re: Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by tippie53 »

as I started building 20 yrs ago binding was difficult. few jigs were out there. I tried many and this is my take on it.
A lets say there are 2 main designs
there are those the ride the side and those that ride the top or combinations of these

the first one I used was one similar to the cory but he didn't really design it as it was one that was out there a long time. The guitar makers manual has a bare bones design very much like Bill's and the one KMG did. Both had limitations and there was a lot of follow up work

the first bench routing jig was the one Tom Ribbeke designed where the router went up and down with glides and a series of bearings to control the width of the cut. The weak link in this was the routers as it was hard to manipulate them for depth adjustments.

the big improvement on Tom's design was the Fleishman or Williams jig that while did the same thing as Tom's you could pull the router along with your hand and this give you a bit more control.

I don't think there is a perfect machine for all guitars as some have more arch than others but the armed router armed with the rigid router is by far the easiest one to use. I am always playing and it comes down to how much time do you want to spend on the process and how accurate you want to be.
The fleishman is my binding machine of choice. If you don't want to invest that kind of money look into the dremel router with an adjuster on it. stew mac sells one or use a locator on a router base , this can be as simple as a piece of wood to hold the cutter to a set width for the binding.
In any rate you want the set up so you sand the sides to the binding scrapping it can make it appear thin. It is ok if you just touch scraping but the main thought is the channel you route needs to be parallel to the side and the depth much be even from the surface of the top or back.
The top is not that difficult it is the back , as the radius and taper can make the upper area tricky
John Hall
Blues Creek Guitars Inc
Authorized CF Martin Repair Center
president of Association of Stringed Instrument Artisans
http://www.bluescreekguitars.com
Danl8
Posts: 733
Joined: Mon Jul 28, 2014 7:50 am
Location: Chadds Ford, PA

Re: Plans on building the Cory Router Guide

Post by Danl8 »

I'll throw a vote in for the machine John mentions above. Having used an Ibex hand binding channel cutter since 1975, I must say it was quite intimidating to use a router. My first experience there was a Horrible Freight $10 special which in combination with my low brow ability created my guitar of constant sorrow. Then after the Blues Creek training, I got John's machine. It has a few quirks, but dang it is so much better, binding is just a task now not an ordeal.
Post Reply