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Bill Cory included a couple of pictures of his design in his Martin Guitar Kit book, but the link does not work. His design was basically a small guide that bolted to the baseplate of the router, extending under the bit. His approach requires the bearing-style cutting bit, and his guide provided further stability as it rode along the side of the guitar. He also used 3 popsicle sticks taped to the baseplate just in front of the bit, which rode on the top of the guitar.

The cheapest approach, short of using a hand-held grammel, is making a KMG-style guide. It only requires a 1/4" down spiral cutting bit and a couple pieces of scrap wood. I also downloaded plans from Bogdanovich's website for ~$10 and am going to attempt to build his jig. It is similar to both the KMG and Cory approaches, in that it has a moveable guide that rides along the side of guitar, adjustable for depth. Where it differs is that it also has a handle, so that you hold it by the jig and press against the side of the guitar instead of holding it from above and hoping you are parallel to the side. It makes lots of sense, but I haven't made it yet. Plans here: https://www.jsbguitars.com/shop/guitar- ... ent-plans/

Thank you!!! I purchased/downloaded the Bogdanovich plans and, gulp, I think I may be able to build it.

Gratefully,

Scot

SCOT
I have the Bill Cory guide made by him. You can have it for the price of shipping it.
I used it on my first 3 guitars and it works just fine.
Attaches to a trim router.
If you want it I'll dig it out tomorrow and make sure it's where I think it is. It's been about 10 years!

Kevin

If Scot is not interested, I would love to try it. I plan to build the Bogdanovich jig, but haven't yet made that a reality.

Slowpicker,

My apologies, but I let Kevin know this morning that I want his Bill cory router guide. Though I have the Bogdanovich plans know, it would be a reach for me to build that one with my limited equipment and limited woodworking know-how. So, the router guide from Kevin was/is the straightest path for me to get through my first, and perhaps only, guitar build.

The support from folks on this forum, and from John Hall at Blues creek guitars, is amazing.

Glad to hear it, Scott. I'll post pics of my attempt at making the Bogdanovich jig before too long.

By the way. Bill Cory developed some issues with his hands a few years ago and had to stop building guitars. I spoke with him last a couple of years ago and he was then also having trouble playing guitar. He was a great help to me when I first started out 14 years ago with a kit.
Many builders got started using his first book and materials, and coming here. This forum was his baby.
He sold off all his guitar making stuff and if I remember correctly he was considering moving out of country.
John has done great thing with this forum and is such a help and great source of experience and encouragement.

Scot. I hope that jig works out for you. Be SURE to practice cutting on the edge of board before taking your router to a guitar. It takes a little practice. I still do that every time I set up my routing set up for a guitar. I like using MDF for trial runs.
Good luck.

Good idea to practice a few times. Also get the guitar held down firmly, one might think they don't need to using a router but things can get way from you before you can react.

Bruce,

My current intention is to build one kit (Martin 000) and be done, ...

You must realize that nobody builds just one guitar..... :-)

Ain't that the truth. I'm on #16 but it's taken 14 years to get there.