Official Luthiers Forum!

What do you use for cutting out the soundhole, routing rosette channels, and cutting the rosette out of a blank?

I have used the dremel circle cutter on my last two, used it yesterday again, and it's probably the flimsiest tool I have. I does the job ok, but now I can't use the height adjustment screw anymore because the plastic thread is...gone.

I have seen the drill press rosette cutter at LMI, but I don't really want to spend $200. I have also seen the jasper circle guide and the hand cutter at LMI, but was wondering what other solutions are out there, and how you like them.

best, Christian

Having tried the Dremel (weak), and several other circle cutting attachments to a router I have good results with an inexpensive Grizzly laminate trimmer ($42) and a Wells circle cutter and a Blues Creek circle cutter. Both work well, are accurate, easily adjustable and can be drilled to match your laminate trimmer base. For cutting out the soundhole there is still the tongue depressor and x-acto knife blade as the low cost champ.

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GEO
perpetual beginner

Christian,

Here's one I built awhile ago for not much money, based on ones by Tony Karol, Arnt Rein, Sylvan Wells and others.



Here's some more more pics.

http://patfosterguitars.com/circlejig/index.html

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

Christian,
I still have a few of these circle cutters left over from the Swapalooza if you are interested. $120 delivered:
viewtopic.php?f=10126&t=22807

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com

Pat,
I have to say that is one UGLY guitar!! Sorry man but.... WOW!!

Shane

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Canada

I use the Stewmac dremel guide adapted for use with my laminate trimmer.

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David White, Toronto

"All my favourite singers can't sing."

Awesome, thanks for the suggestions. The Wells/Karol circle cutter looks really good.

Tracy, I don't need it right away - my wife and I are both in a transition phase job wise, so I won't be able to order in the next 2 months. Is this an item you regularly carry?

I just finished the rosette inlay. All done with the dremel circle cutter.



Shane, that's one of your cinnamon cedar tops with a spalted maple rosette.

It's good to have purfling in multiple width. I messed the routing up first (tear out), so had to inlay another purfling ring to cover most of it up
Christian

I use a Dremel tool with the old model Stew-Mac Circle cutter jig.
I improved the jig by adding an anti-backlash spring for more precise adjustment.

Ray

For rosettes, I use a Stewmac circle cutting jig with a Dremel. I modified the jig to give me digital accuracy and complete repeatablility. Old thread about it here.

I use my laser to cut the soundhole.

Cheers,
Dave F.

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Cambrian Guitars

"There goes Mister Tic-Tac out the back with some bric-brac from the knick-knack rack"

The Bogdanovitch book has pretty good instructions for building your own.
I made mine out of 1/4" maple and it works amazingly well....
A spiral downcut bit is highly recommended....

For many powertool setups, a manual circle cutter with a very sharp blade is a great addition. For me even the slightest tear-out around the rosette is quite a let-down regarding craftsmanship on that guitar. And most players (or luthiers) inspecting a guitar will definitely look first at the rosette. I think it is the one spot in need of most attention fit-wise.

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Build log

Christian,
I'll probably keep some extras on hand always, and may start offering them soon. Hope to be of service. Great job on that rosette, that turned out really nice! Another great tip I learned from a local builder on spalted maple rosettes...in areas where you need more spalt, break the rosette in this area, it will usually snap very cleanly, then use a black sharpie to color the 2 joining faces with black ink. Then glue back together. You will never know it was a man made spalt! Good luck!

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Tracy
http://www.luthiersuppliers.com