As I've got a couple of 6 string guitars on order, I thought I'd tool-up and get some neck pocket templates. I looked at StewMacs...but as well the high price and costly shipping, (and the router bits were even more extortionate) they copped for a lot of very poor reviews, so I decided to look elsewhere. I found something from the EU, with very reasonable shipping, and also got the correct router bit with a bearing from a UK supplier. The bit was really cheap compared with StewMac, so I don't expect it to last long, and I'll have to keep an eye on it for wear, but so far it seems to work OK.
So here's the acrylic template, and after reading about all the problems people had with the StewMac ones I decided to make a working copy in 6mm MDF, keeping the original as a master. A lot of people complained about the Stewmac templates being oversized, but a trial fit seems to show that this one is pretty tight. More worryingly, they said the templates melted under use and ruined the guitars people were working on..so apart from accidentally damaging the perspex one, that was my main reason for making a copy. Of course, what's apparent when you start using this set-up, even just cutting a copy template, is that the router bit gets hot...the heat is transferred to the cutter bearing...and into the template. I was very careful to make light passes to remove the bulk of the MDF, and to let the bit cool right down before actually getting it to run against the template. I reckon that's the key to it...working cool, not letting the bit heat up.
Hopefully this should speed up my builds a bit, and make them more accurate into the bargain. By the way, the three different cutouts are for Strat, Tele and bass necks.
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