Salvador update

Well chrismas has come and gone so I had some time for more work . . . .

First the front and back needed to be flattened as (especially the front) was NOT flat at all, in fact there was an area that wasn't even planed you can see that on the left were the router hasn't even touched the strip just left of center . . . the middle photo was after the first pass . . . and the right shows the dado clearing bit I use for surfacing, it just skims the surface on each pass . . .

After the trip through the router the surface was still rough so the plane comes out (this is the back BTW) very light diagonal passes in BOTH directions smooths things quite nicely

And a flat surface after some sweat and elbow grease . . . the back is flat and smooth.

I position front & back and drill some 1/4" holes for dowels to positively position front and back in relation to each other after each separation as I have to make a cutout for the pickup selection lever switch that won't go through the front as well as the cable runs . . . and they will also positively fix the location of the template during routing of the outline . . .

And then we cut (most of the waste) . . . a jigsaw scroll blade died for this . . . fortunately the (cheap) jig saw lived.

So it looks like ... a Salvador guitar body . . . good it would be a problem if it looked like a ... well anything else really . . . .

And then we work on the template . . .  pencil, ruler, jigsaw, 80 grit sandpaper, knife . . . Tip: cut any lines with the knife before using the jigsaw that will prevent tearout.

All cleaned up (on the left) and mostley marked up (on the right). I put the critical items directly on the template, then drill 1/8" holes and use those to transfer critical points directly onto the body, with the indexing through the 1/4" dowels the template is in the same position EVERY time . . .

Next up rout the body to final shape. I used the template draw the shape on each part, and then a second pass with the jigsaw about 2 mm outside of the line. Next I used the template to rout the top and then the top as the template to rout the bottom . . . worked like a charm, only one little bit of tear out when I went a little tooooo fast and to deep . . . light passes make much better sides - live and learn. Note the multiple lines to find center on the back . . . due to it's shape it was hard to use the actual center line so lines parallel to the center were used to minimize measurement/drawing error, the front is a straing edge 90° to the center line so noooo issues there.

And Here is the current state of affairs in the process of being marked up for pickup cavities, switch/control routs, cable runs, weight relief and belly & elbow contours .

What's this?

Nope not some iron age tablets . . . . 2 oversized 'anvils' for leather working, the front is for stamping and the back can be used for cutting. Each is made from four 1/2 x 3.5" pieces of oak and a piece of 8 x 10" 1/16th mild steel ... and 4 machine screws.