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Jigs and templates

So, I've been building for a while... 69 official guitars, (a few prototypes I didn't number), 5 Uke's, a couple oil can guitars, canjos, diddley bows, even a clamjo . . .

I'm prepping for Maker's Faire here in San Diego, and I have a booth... I'll be trying my hand at selling this time, so I figured people will want to MAKE their own. Thus the SawBox guitar kit was born...

24" scale, Slide, poplar neck, 3 strings, Glue and screw assembly...

Since I'm building 20+ necks, I figured a template would save me tons of measuring, drawing, etc...

I found 8' poplar at Lowes, and cutting in thirds works just fine. Seems the poplar at Lowes (though a few cents more) is much straighter than the by the foot stuff at Home Depot... or at least I could find 8 footers that are straight...

So I took a piece of 1/8" acrylic, cut it 1.5" wide, and 4-1/8" long. (ok, it ended up that length, it works..)

The result is a single template that I can use an awl/Pencil to mark the headstock:

I dado the headstock for the kits about 1/8", using the entire template as the guide. THen, once it's been dadoed, I use the template holes to mark the tuners, string trees, and string mounting holes at the other end.

This makes light work of marking them all!

I have made other templates... I like Gitty's Fretboard template, but the acrylic is really brittle, and the holes are 1/4", which is fine for marking, but not for drilling. So I made my own with my fret blade in my table saw, then I drilled 1/16" holes for the fret markers. Now I can use double sided tape to position the template on the fretboard, and quickly mark exactly where to drill the holes for 6mm inlay.

Hope this helps!

John

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Permalink Reply by the anonymous pick on August 9, 2016 at 7:07pm

coolaroo.. good luck in the sales ;-)

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Permalink Reply by Grandpa on August 12, 2016 at 4:46am

DGood tip John. Sometimes we do and learn through experience without realizing something fairly simple, even obvious to us could be quite helpful, especially to new builders. After measuring, figuring, through four or five builds, I made a tuner hole template from a piece of cutoff oak fretboard. Didn't think to share it. That is a good reason for me to haunt these halls....you never know when a good answer will be presented, often before I consider the question. When a new builder looks in theze discussions, they can get good answers to their questions without getting dumped on or flamed. We all started on our first build, wanted it to be awesome, and probably didn't have anyone to ask. To all...thanks for the assistance and inspiration!

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on August 12, 2016 at 5:47am

I have been wanting to make a tuner hole template for some time... 1/4" peg with holes for drilling the screws... But I didn't want it made from wood because it would wear...

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Permalink Reply by Logan Parker on March 28, 2017 at 7:54am

I have to ask- what is a clamjo? Thanks

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on March 28, 2017 at 8:22am

You have heard of a Canjo... the Clamjo is a silly version using a clam shell instead of a can...

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/1497665-4530265790622-106273936...

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Permalink Reply by lawntrout guitars on March 28, 2017 at 10:28am

i love jigs and templates. Here is a video i made of some of my CBG jigs

https://youtu.be/A3B-REk0aJU

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Permalink Reply by John Sawyer on March 28, 2017 at 7:33pm

I like the fret cutting jig! Genius!

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Permalink Reply by Shawn on April 2, 2017 at 11:54am

I love making jigs.
Tapering jig
Nut width jig
Fret jig
Headstock jig
Scale length jig ( so I know if a scale length will work with a box)
Box centering jig
F hole jig
Sound hole jigs of mis shapes
Body shape jigs
Jigs for controls
Bridge jigs
I get jiggy with jigs.

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