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I am working on my number 2 guitar, all mahogany parlor size. I drilled the 3/16" dia. hole in the top for the rosette/soundhole cutting jig, but missed the centerline by about 1/16". (I'm blind in one eye so I have no depth perception, it's tricky for me to spot whether the drill is going to hit a given mark.)

Anyway, I can try again because the center of the sound hole gets cut out and thrown away. I was thinking I would patch it with a dowel, sand/scrape it flush and re-drill....but is there any reason that I couldn't just glue a wood patch over the hole on the back (inner) face? I was thinking I could glue the patch within the area of the sound hole then the routing jig would still sit flush with the visible face so that my depth of cut doesn't get all wonky (as it would with a patch on the visible face). Patching on the back will require me to support the top with some shims during routing so that the top doesn't flex and crack or cause uneven cutting.

I am using the stew-mac sound hole/rosette jig, a work board I made with the stew-mac provided steel dowel, and a 1/16" spiral downcut bit.

Thoughts or alternative suggestions appreciated.

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Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP

Even with two good eyes (sort of) I miss every now and then .. in fact did just that to a top the other day. The glue line is so hard that the bit will wander even with a pilot hole from an awl .. so I just moved the hole down a 1/4 inch and tried again . success .. it simply moves the whole pattern of the guitars shape down, if you still have room on the top piece to do it - one more reason now to cut it to exact shape just yet ...

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"

Wow. Talk about overlooking the obvious! I have plenty of room to move it down a little. Thanks....I feel sort of foolish for not thinking of that.

_________________
Registered Architect (Texas, New York)
LEED AP