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I'm trying to fashion a mold and bending shapes for a build and from what I've been told it's best to start by getting a single board/shape perfect and then use either a flush trim or pattern tracing router bit to cut out the rest to match. Problem is that I don't have a router, routing table or even a drill press to do the job with any bit of accuracy. In fact, outside of a hand drill and the band saw I have no power tools - which is sort of good because I'm doing most of my work in my basement/garage after the family has gone to bed so the less noise the better.

FWIW I've cut out the rough curves reasonably close with a donated band saw though (I get a couple of hours here or there when the kids are in school/preschool and the wife's at work) so it might be attainable to get the rest done by hand with a good heavy grit sandpaper and some elbow grease.

I'm kind of new to woodworking in general so bear with me on this but I need to know if I'm barking up the right tree? I'm basically thinking of making something akin to a combination of a T-square and a sanding stick or dowel. The objective would be to have the square flush against the side of the work piece to keep the sanding surface square so that I can work the high points down to match the master form. Does this idea have any merit?

You don't really need the mould to be full depth. That would leave you with having to get two 3/4" 'patterns' the same and using spacer blocks to increase the height to near full side depth. The spacer blocks don't have to be flush with your two 'patterns'. It's the same type of mould that is commonly used in Cello construction.
Knife mark using your template and cut close to that line. Remove material with a very sharp spokeshave/fine rasp to the knife mark - constantly checking with a square to make sure you are not under cutting too much.
Line up your two 'patterns', clamp and even out the differences between the two.

I like Michael's ideas the best -

here is another idea -

you can put a sanding drum in your hand drill as well - although you have to be more careful as it will sand a lot of wood away quickly, depending on grit.
Maybe you can fashion some sort of template guide for the sanding drum - and maybe you can have the hand drill in a vise -

I believe it was Chris Paulik that has a video on making a sander out of a rolling pin as well for the hand drill -
viewtopic.php?f=10117&t=25191

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It's this new idea from recent decades that everyone gets a participation award. - MUX

You can make your life a whole lot easier by getting a few tools - in this case a table-top drill press and the sanding drums John show above are what you need. They aren't that expensive - especially if you buy used. Otherwise you are going to spend hours to come up with something less satisfactory. You'll use a drill press throughout the build.

Pat

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There are three kinds of people:

Those that make things happen,
those that watch things happen,
and those that wondered what happened.

LOL, as a guitar player I've struggled for years with GAS (Guitar Acquisition Syndrome) so that I've only ever had 3 or 4 quality instruments in 30 years of playing. Before I even set forth on this adventure I was warned of TAS (Tool Acquisition Syndrome) but I see now that there's no avoiding it! I already have a bench top band saw so what's the harm in another bench top tool?

BTW, is Cummins a good brand? I see them often on the local craigs list going for $25-$35 USD.

PS, the rolling pin tool look like a handy thing to have. Too bad you need a drill press to make it! I take that as a sign!

Thanks, everybody!

As a relative beginner, a drill press was the second tool I bought after a bandsaw and it has earned its keep. Drilling headstock holes, bridges, sanding with attachments, sanding jigs, it has poenty of uses. However Ive found you can never have too many sanding machines. A disc sander or belt/disc sander combination is very useful - get the biggest you can afford/have space for. 10 inch disc is good. I bought a 5 " Proxxon and it is great, if expensive, but the 10 inch would have been better. Some hand held belt sanders are designed so they can be clamped upside down to the bench, very useful. Bosch do one. But beware the power of the belt sander if you use it hand held - I thought I was careful but managed to wreck a back by going too thin, it only takes a second.

Again, good advice. Interesting about the hand held belt sander. I have a Ryobi 3" x 18" that I just used to strip several coats of paint off my deck. I was told hand tools were a no-no even though I tried adapting my hand drill as a spindle. It was so precarious within the clamp that I didn't even attempt sanding a piece of scrap lest it fly off into my furnace or hot water heater! I can only imagine how disastrous the 3x18 belt sander would be to use!

Next time I'm on my way to Norfolk from Pittsburgh to visit my mom I might just take you up on that, but for now YJ John is just 20 minutes away and he's well-stocked with equipment. I'd also add that without his support thus far I wouldn't have even have gotten this far. He's a good guy, though he's scary around power tools!