Routing pickup cut-outs and f-holes in cigar box guitars using templates

I'd seen a few people asking about how to route f-holes in cigar box guitars, so decided to do this video. We've used various techniques in the past, including conventional 1/4 inch routers and Dremels fitted with a router base, but they all have their drawbacks and limitations. This is our latest method, using a small "palm router" /trimmer and a cutter bit with a guide bearing. It enables us to use a like-for-like template - i.e. the cutter will accurately replicate the templates. With other methods, such as a Dremel with a guide bushing in the baseplate, we've had to make oversize templates as the cutting bit will be inset from the bushing and produces a smaller cut-out than the template itself. Also, we've found that the Dremel is relatively underpowered compared with a "proper" router, and the bits are fragile, so cutting thick tops is a problem, and in any event we always used to do the routing in several passes, even in thin, soft timber and plywood.

In this video I use a small Makita router fitted with a Trend miniature bearing-guided bit. This is the 6.3mm bit - I did try a smaller 4.8mm bearing guided bit, which enables the cutter to get into tighter a radius, but I found the bit very delicate and fragile, and indeed the cutting part of the bit detached from the shank: they appear to be pressed-in where the bearing is mounted and after properly re-pressing it back together I didn't trust it. The first time I tried this combination of router and bit, I bought a pre-made pickup template, but found that it was far to small to be clamped to the top of the guitar - they are designed to be stuck to solid body guitars or plastic scratchplates with double sided tape, which would damage the delicate paper-covered cigar boxes and indeed some of the natural wood boxes. I therefore decided to make my own templates, using A4 sized 6mm thick perspex, which would be big enough to be clamped to the top of the box. For the pickup templates I also included the adjustment screw holes (and countersunk them to allow the base of the router to move freely over them), so that these could be used to securely screw the template to the top of the box. The templates were made by hand, by a combination of drilling plus careful filing and sanding. It's a laborious process, but as we don't have CNC or a laser cutter, its the way we did it.

If you want to replicate this sort of work accurately and many times over, then its worth going to the time and trouble of making the templates and buying the gear, but for a one-off or very small numbers, in my opinion it really isn't effective in terms of the time and expense you need to invest in the process.

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