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I tried to fix a Gibson Les Paul custom with a broken neck by routing in slots on the back of the headstock in order to reinforce it. However the slot was less than perfect and it's because I can't get the router to travel straight since I only used an edge guide. I seen frets.com use a precision sliding rail but honestly I do not have the money he is spending on those kind of fixtures but I recognized that it's very handy to have a sliding jig around not only for this task, but for routing bridge slots too. I was thinking what if I made a slide using pieces of wood that slides with a drawer slide, or is there a better plan out there?

Also I found several places that can cut acrylic or anything with a laser cutter, not sure what are the cost but I can definitely think of a lot of uses for that... making jigs for one thing.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I'm not sure what you are thinking of but for straight channels, like truss rod channels, I use a router table and two fences. Bring the tapers up square with carpet tape and blocks.

Bob

I need that too, but right now I need a way of sliding a router straight for things such as bridge saddle slot routing.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

I wouldn't use drawer slides for a router jig like this- there's too much 'slop' in any of the slides I've seen.

A simple snug-fitting 'box' style guide works for me- something that will allow the router base to move inside the box, with little 'wiggle', can be made fairly simply.
You can use the existing router base, or make a rectangular/square base for the router from plywood or plexiglas.
If you use a router with a circular base, be aware that the bit is not always 'centered in the base, so don't turn the router as you make the cut.

Cheers
John

Here's what I and others use for bridges.

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

A template bushing. Screws into the bottom of your router. It bears against your template. Make the slot in your template bigger than the bushing so you can make a pass and then move to each side to clean up. You can get different sized bushings and combine with different sized router bits to get about any width slot. For a template 1/2" ply or acrylic works fine as the template bushings are usually 1/2". I have shortened them sometimes so they don't protrude past 1/2".
Plunge router is best for this kind of set up.
Link

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

i do just what pat does.
kinda scary making that angled plunge though.
i rout the bridge blank first, so if i blow it,
i just grab another blank.
need a square base rouer for this jig.
woodcraft sells a sweet little baby plunge router for about a hundred bucks
that would work really well for saddle routing.
maybe someday i get one.
i too cheap.

My router doesn't accept template bushings, but it does have a square base. I think a boxed-in jig may be good for what I am doing. It's not just for bridges though, it's also for routing for splines to reinforce a broken neck. Since this kind of repair will be fairly common given the number of Taiwanese "repairman" using wood screws to fix a broken headstock...

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

For neck splines:
You can make the box wider than the router base, with room for a movable 'spacer strip' the width of the separation between your splines. Put the spacer on one side of the router, rout one slot, then move the spacer to the other side.
Clamping the neck and router jig securely is the 'tricky' part, but if you can build a guitar, you can do that!

For bridge saddles- in place- make the 'box jig' with a padded bottom and long enough so that you can clamp it to the guitar body- handy for routing saddle slots in place to correct intonation problems, or after filling an adjustable saddle slot with a wood filler to accept a 'regular' saddle. Don Teeter had details of such a jig using the Dremel router base in his guitar book "The Acoustic Guitar: Adjustment, Care, Maintenance and Repair". Not all his ideas were great (e.g. epoxied frets) but there is a lot of good info there.

Cheers
John

Can you get, or make, a base that will accept template bushings? I've made quite a few of these, using a couple of Forstner bits.

My bridge slotting contraption:

<P>

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https://soundcloud.com/jeffreylsuits/he ... -runnin-13

I am using a Taiwanese made laminate trimmer. Only the full sized routers I have seen comes with template bushing, not laminate trimmers. I am not putting a full sized router on a guitar body.

_________________
Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

The router shown above, is a Bosch Colt.

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https://soundcloud.com/jeffreylsuits/he ... -runnin-13