solid guitar bodies,,,

[mtwright1959]

Can anyone give me a ballpark idea how long it takes to cut guitar bodies on a desktop, with the router, and is it accurate enough to bother?

[Brady Watson]

This depends on the design/shape and material. I would ballpark 2 hours including the 2D feature machining for the pickup, neck etc. Machining it is the easy part.

-B

[Ajcoholic]

Something like a Telecaster body (outline, plus neck and pickup pockets and control cavity) should take very little time (Im going to estimate 15 to 20 minutes?) I cut some strat bodies a while back, and with the 3D contours took a bit longer. Maybe 30 to 45 minutes depending upon bit choice, step over etc.

Any Shopbot will be accurate enough - is within a few thousandths of an inch good enough? :)

Assuming any normal guitar wood, cutting should be easy.

Doing something like a LEs Paul where the whole top is carved/shaped I would say closer to what Brady suggested but again, you can speed things up with less step over and a larger bit.

WHats the largest diameter you can use on the Desktop - 1/2" ?

[scottp55]

Andrew, Desktop is ER20, from most the largest is 1/2" shank size.
http://www.techniksusa.com/metal/cnaerpci.htm
Seem to remember seeing a 5/8" once, but can't seem to find it---May be mis-remembering.