Making templates

Now the last thing you want to do is destroy your plans. (They got to go on the wall, remember...) So what you do now, is to make some sort of copy of them. Maybe I should rather say "make a CLONE"... It's got to be exact, brother. If you got a steady hand, you can simply trace the original plans. If not, I suggest a trip to your local photo-copy shop. They probably wont have a piece of paper big enough to copy it onto, but that's OK. Just copy it bit by bit, making sure the copies overlap, and put it together like a puzzle - but be precise! If needs be, draw some line-up markings on the original plan before copying them to help you re-align them later.

A cut-out of my copied paper template for the body - aligned and taped up, ready to go.

You can now cut out some of the main parts of the copy, (such as the body, neck, headstock and neck-profile), and hey, presto, you got a paper template - with your original plans in tact. The problem is that a paper template is not really going to do you much good when you're working with tools, but it's a step in the right direction. Next step it to transfer this to something a bit more rigid... something like, uummm, lets see... MDF maybe?

Honestly, I never heard of the stuff, but saw that a lot of other people used it for making their templates, so off to Wikipedia I went. Turns out, it's nothing more than plain ol' Supawood. MDF stands for Medium Density Fiberboard, and is actually a pretty accurate description of what it is, but then again, so is Supawood - this stuff is amazing. It's basically the very fine fibers of softwoods, mixed with wax and some resin, and pressed together under high pressure and temperature. This gives you something very dense, but still pretty light, with no grain. Lately it's been made from more environmentally friendly sources, such as recycled paper and sawmill dust, to save a few trees.

An example of MDF/Supawood. Also known as Customwood or Craftwood.

You can also use plywood, hardboard, or even perspex for making templates, but personally I foresee some problems with using these materials. Mainly, I think they will be a bit thin, and will have to be raised somewhat to be effective when you put a router up against them. Sure, you can use thicker plywood or chipboard even, but these might chip, crack, and generally loose their accuracy.

Your 16mm thick MDF templates should be just the shit for the job. You will have accurate templates that will last you a very long time, should you want to use them again - or even sell them on e-bay to cover some of the cost of building your guitar. If you really want to, and you keep the original plans in good condition and don't scribble all over them, you might even be able to re-sell these too. If you're only planning on building one, and never use the templates again, I suppose you could use just about anything to make templates with and bin them when you're done - just make sure you ARE done with them to save you having to cut another one later.

Now that I've told you how cool MDF/Supawood is, it does have a tendency to dull your tools a little faster than other materials, due to the resin in it, but then again, you're not going to be cutting a million of these. MDF also comes in very large sheets, and it might be a problem getting someone to sell you the small amount that you need - even half a sheet is way more than you need. After spending the whole of Monday morning driving around to find some smaller quantity, I got lucky and got some off-cuts that was big enough to cut out what I needed - it cost me R44.99 at Builders Warehouse.

Unfortunatly, at this point in time I'm still looking for smaller amounts of tone-wood. I was at the timber merchant again this morning to do some calculations, and it seems I'll have to get enough wood to build 6 Pauls - and thats just the mahogany! I might get it anyway and sell the rest as blanks on e-bay, since I will get them already cut and plained to just over size. In the meantime I'll keep looking and try to find wood for ONE guitar.

My paper body-template on my 450 x 350 x 16mm MDF - ready to be marked out.

I was going to take my copied plans and stick them onto my MDF using any old glue that's not going to mess things up to much, but decided to simply trace them on again. To do this I put the paper cut-out on the MDF - making sure the center lines are lined up, and that it DOES NOT MOVE - and then I simply took a big black marker and traced the outline. Half of the line on the paper, and half on the board. I actually made several small lines along the edge of the paper, moving from the paper onto the wood, all the way around. Don't make the lines from the wood onto the paper, as the edge of the paper might lift up, giving you an inaccurate outline. By doing it this way, it has the same effect as masking the wood with the paper and spraying along the edge - it gives you a perfect outline.

Body shape marked on the MDF - ready to be cut out.

Although the outside edge of the line is rather jagged, the critical inside of the line is perfect. I can now use the jigsaw to cut somewhere on the line, (it's about 10mm wide), and then sand the shape back to size - in other words, until I don't see any more black marker on the edge. Don't even try to cut on the line - it's NOT going to happen, and you will have to start all over again. (See, I DID learn something in the woodwork class at school - jigsaws do what they want to do, not what you want them to do.) Leave a little bit on the outside of the line that you can sand back to exact size later. Obviously, the less you leave on, the less you have to sand back, but the closer you get to the line, the higher the risk of cutting into your template. Because of the high density and fine grain qualities of MDF, it sands really well, and you can get it really precise and smooth with little effort. I just did a check, and to my surprise, you can actually even take a rasp to it. My rasp is rather vicious, but it does not rip the edges as I suspected it would, provided I take my time - easy does it. So... stay clear with the jigsaw, rasp it a bit closer, and sand it down to size.

Roughly cut out with a Jigsaw and ready to get rasped!

Note the center line on the MDF. When you trace your plans on paper, make sure to mark the center line of the body and neck, and transfer these marks to your board template, and draw this line in with something that will not rub off or fade later - that line is a VERY important reference for measuring and lining everything up later. At this point it is simply drawn in with a pencil, but I will cut this in with a sharp blade to mark it permanently. Best NOT to add the cavities to the template at this time, as the actual covers for these might differ slightly from what is drawn on the plans. You don't want to make a template that will never fit anything you cut with it. Also, the cavities for the picups will depend more on the actual pickup than the plan, so hang on with those too. When you do get these parts, you can just add the cavities to this template, and cut them out. (More on this later.)

Making a start on the horn. Note my high-tech vice - put it on a milk crate and sit on it.


Didn't I say to take it easy on the rasp?! Oh yes, I did...


Good to go! Rasped and sanded.

Bob's your uncle, Fanny's your aunt... you got a nice template for making sure you cut that chunk of mahogany right first time - that shit don't come cheap, you know!

I'm going to follow the exact same steps in making templates for the neck/headstock profile, as well as two separate templates for the neck and the headstock. The reason why I'm making two, is that a flat template will be useless with a headstock that tilts back at 16 degrees. When I cut the neck later, I will first cut the profile, and then trace and cut the "face" of the neck and the headstock separately. (More on this later.)

Now that I got my templates, I should really get a move on with finding that tone-wood! Well, its relatively easy to get if you're interested in mass producing guitars, or buying a tree. All I want is wood for ONE guitar, dammit - and soon would be good! Right about tomorrow would be a good time...