Green vs. White
- Thread starter bagman67
- Start date
Patrick from Davis
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Trevor, you made a nice template for routing. Any tips on... The template construction? Routing a body that already has a finish? Tips and tricks you've come across along the way with where to drill the hole? Have you found any of the woodworking tools to be superior to another? Making the hole where the end of the lever that your strap attaches to? Modifying bridges to accept the B Bender system?
The information on the bender and it's history has been a lot of fun to read up on.
Patrick
The information on the bender and it's history has been a lot of fun to read up on.
Patrick
Nando Vallart
Epic Member
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- 8,256
Damn!! I've been tempted to have a B-Bender, but I fear to end like Mayfly and want it on every guitar.... Probably won't have, but the fear of the GAS is on....
[EDIT]
Well, also I don't like the look of this thing below the bridge:
[EDIT]
Well, also I don't like the look of this thing below the bridge:
mayfly
Epic Member
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- 9,049
ok - making the template.
[list type=decimal]
[*]get a nice piece of lexan from your favorite building supply joint. Make sure it's large enough to cover the entire guitar body and make sure it's a standard thickness, like 1/4 inches. The only fault with my template is that it's 5/16 thick or something, which makes measuring the depth of the route a pain in the ass as you need to subtract the template thickness from what your caliper measures. But to be honest for a Parsons/Green it's not that critical, so I suppose I should just chill.
[*]take the full scale drawing from your HipShot P/G kit and place it flat on the old table. Put your lexan over top. With a sharpie, trace the drawing onto the lexan. All of it - especially the location of the b-string line and where the ferrules go. Body outline as well. All this is used later to line it up.
[*]cut out the hole where the rout goes. I used a drill press and a hacksaw and it took a little while - and it produced a rough edge. Make sure you cut it undersize, you'll be trimming it later. To smooth and trim the inside edges, I got a little rasp, much like this one:
. I put the rasp into my router, put the router into the router table, and carefully smoothed and trimmed the inner edge. This worked very well and I ended up with a nice smooth hole in the template.
[*]I located some areas that were outside of the routed area, but would be covered with the aluminum plate of the bender. Here, I drilled and countersunk about 5 holes around the perimeter of the template. These are used to hold the template to the back of the body with screws. For a template this big, and a massive area like that, I did not trust double sided tape
[*]then on to routing the sucker!
[/list]
[list type=decimal]
[*]get a nice piece of lexan from your favorite building supply joint. Make sure it's large enough to cover the entire guitar body and make sure it's a standard thickness, like 1/4 inches. The only fault with my template is that it's 5/16 thick or something, which makes measuring the depth of the route a pain in the ass as you need to subtract the template thickness from what your caliper measures. But to be honest for a Parsons/Green it's not that critical, so I suppose I should just chill.
[*]take the full scale drawing from your HipShot P/G kit and place it flat on the old table. Put your lexan over top. With a sharpie, trace the drawing onto the lexan. All of it - especially the location of the b-string line and where the ferrules go. Body outline as well. All this is used later to line it up.
[*]cut out the hole where the rout goes. I used a drill press and a hacksaw and it took a little while - and it produced a rough edge. Make sure you cut it undersize, you'll be trimming it later. To smooth and trim the inside edges, I got a little rasp, much like this one:
[*]I located some areas that were outside of the routed area, but would be covered with the aluminum plate of the bender. Here, I drilled and countersunk about 5 holes around the perimeter of the template. These are used to hold the template to the back of the body with screws. For a template this big, and a massive area like that, I did not trust double sided tape
[*]then on to routing the sucker!
[/list]
mayfly
Epic Member
- Messages
- 9,049
Routing
Just some general tips:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Use a nice and new router bit. Use one of the ones with a double flute and the non-cutting area filled in, like this:
[*]Of course use a ball bearing guide on that bit.
[*]The hole that you drilled, that I have not told you about yet, will be the starting point for the bit.
[*]Position the template so that the ferrule holes line up with the marks you made with the sharpie, and so the rest lines up well by eye. To be honest, as long as the hole is covered by the bender plate and you didn't route away the areas needed for the bender plate screws, you'll be fine.
[*]Some people pre-drill a pile of holes in areas where they will remove a lot of material. I never bothered. Just go slow with that router and have at it.
[*]If you've never used a router before, here's some safety advice: Wear earplugs. Wear eye protection. Always unplug it when you are making depth adjustments or any other adjustments. Hell unplug as soon as it spins down. Always insert the bit into the work in a clear area, then turn it on. Always let it spin down all the way before removing it from the work - don't let go of the trigger then pull up the tool right away. And above all - never never drop a running router in your lap.
[*]Use dial calipers to check your depth as you go. The P/W kit requires some areas be routed a little deeper than others. The dial calipers work great for this. Provided you were smart and made your template with lexan of a standard thickness.
[/list]
Just some general tips:
[list type=decimal]
[*]Use a nice and new router bit. Use one of the ones with a double flute and the non-cutting area filled in, like this:
[*]Of course use a ball bearing guide on that bit.
[*]The hole that you drilled, that I have not told you about yet, will be the starting point for the bit.
[*]Position the template so that the ferrule holes line up with the marks you made with the sharpie, and so the rest lines up well by eye. To be honest, as long as the hole is covered by the bender plate and you didn't route away the areas needed for the bender plate screws, you'll be fine.
[*]Some people pre-drill a pile of holes in areas where they will remove a lot of material. I never bothered. Just go slow with that router and have at it.
[*]If you've never used a router before, here's some safety advice: Wear earplugs. Wear eye protection. Always unplug it when you are making depth adjustments or any other adjustments. Hell unplug as soon as it spins down. Always insert the bit into the work in a clear area, then turn it on. Always let it spin down all the way before removing it from the work - don't let go of the trigger then pull up the tool right away. And above all - never never drop a running router in your lap.
[*]Use dial calipers to check your depth as you go. The P/W kit requires some areas be routed a little deeper than others. The dial calipers work great for this. Provided you were smart and made your template with lexan of a standard thickness.
[/list]
erogenousjones17
Hero Member
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- 1,709
Just out of curiosity, does anyone put benders on anything other than Teles?
erogenousjones17
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- 1,709
Neat. Are the kits you mention Tele-specific? There's just something about a bender that screams "Tele!" :laughing7:
