Most difficult procedure? (Besides finishing)

[glasalle1]

I found this pic somewhere, and was thinking of doing this with my guitar vice (Even though this is doing the Mortise, was thinking it could be used for the end wedge):

guitar vice.jpg

Glenn

Yes, you can make a jig and use your trim router.

For me it is the accurate cutting for the tail piece slot.

Is there a "right" way to do it consistently and accurately each time?

Rick Gunn
Rose Creek

[ruby@magpage.com]

It is very easy and controllable to stick down a small piece of wood - say 1/2" thick - along the line on one side. Then use a fine tooth (20 tpi or more) like an Exacto razor saw along the edge of the wood. Do both sides, then use a VERY sharp chisel to along the waste and peel it out. Depth doesn't have to be exact.

Alternatively, you could cut with the saw, then use your router to take out the waste without worrying about the edges. Remember that some guitars are not flat at the end!

Ed Minch

[watergunn]

Thanks,

That is how I am doing it now.

I was just wondering if there were other techniques. I always get a knot in my stomach when I do this step.

No other part of the build bothers me like it for some reason.

I have no screwed one up too badly yet.

Just afraid I will screw up on a customers baby!

[Alan Carruth]

Cut the slot by whatever means you like.

Make the end graft to fit.

[tippie53]

I learned to do this by hand. I can do them pretty fast now. I also liked to cut dovetail drawers by hand .

[B. Howard]

For me every guitar poses its own challenges. Whether it's a tuner bushing that starts a bit crooked and causes problems or that one little section of binding that didn't quite get glued. The key to success in any woodworking from my perspective is realizing you are working with imperfect materials and also that as a human you will make mistakes. It is not the imperfections or mistakes that really matter so much as what you do about them. Quality is not something you can slather on at the end, it is an event. It occurs during the work and it remains until another event happens that changes it. They are only defects of you let them be. I have never made anything that was perfect but often I am the only person to know about the small imperfections.