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Posts: 1706
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA
Head slotting jigs
I just tried LMI's head slotting jig and am extremely disappointed. The part that is for drilling the holes for the tuner rollers is impossible to tighten down square to the base. Moreover, there is only one position in which it can be used to act as a fence for holding the head while routing the slots, and that position results in the side wall adjacent to the slot being extraordinarily thin (3/16" for a 3/4" slot). It looks like it should be adjustable to make a wider side, but it is not. In addition, I had to go out and find replacement screws for the drilling part because the screws that came with it would not hold down a head thinner than 21 mm.
I previously tried a drilling and slotting jig from Luthier Tool. After one use it went out of wack and the roller holes didn't match up side to side. I sent it back, it was adjusted, and it worked for a few guitars. Then the adjustment screws froze and they are still frozen. Moreover, it was never possible to adjust it to get a very consistent side wall thickness.
So I am back to making slots by drilling and chiseling. I just wanted to warn people about these expensive jigs. It would be nice if there were a great one.
Thanks for the advice. I recently watched a nice instructional video of Pablo Requena and decided to copy his jig. It’s effective and works very well also for me..
Btw, thanks to Pablo Requena for these little videos.
I looked at the jig some years back and passed. I sort of enjoy the chisel work and making it as clean as a routed surface. I was routing them for a while, but went back to the chisel because the router work is unnerving to me. If the chisel is sharp...not much work at all.
I looked at several of Requena's videos. Amazing. He teaches tons of stuff, very well.
I find his jig too complicated, though. I agree with Stephen that chiseling can be pleasant and fast, but sometimes I find the preliminary drilling for the slots tedious. After seeing the problems with two very complicated and expensive jigs--and being frustrated--I decided to make my own jig and it came out very well. It has given the best results and I couldn't ask for more.
My jig consists of a piece of quarter inch thick MDF with a slot in it that is 7/8" by 4 1/8". There are two pieces of wood glued to the bottom of the jig: one acts as the fence to butt the side of the head being worked on against. It is a quarter inch away from the edge of the 7/8" slot. It also serves as a place to mount a Destaco hold-down clamp (that I've had for 30 years). The other piece of wood is for securing in a vise. I found that it felt more secure to support the other end with an adjustable support.
To get a 3/4" wide by 4" slot, I use a quarter inch router bit in a plunge router with a 3/8" template guide. (I had to shorten the tip of the guide a little because it was more than a quarter inch long.) But first I routed at several depths with a 7/16" guide and then used the 3/8" guide to remove the last 1/16" (actually 1/32" all around) in one pass. The thickness of the side wall is 5/16".
Why didn't I save my money and do this before?
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I find it interesting that Pablo now uses two jigs instead of one. I think it's because he doesn't use a really powerful and fast router. Other than that perhaps he is just being overly cautious.
I've used the same perspex jig as Pablo since I worked at Pablo's and have never had a problem with it. It's cut about 220 guitar head slots so far. A few things that I find a little long winded is the amount of marking out he has done. I make two lines which define the beginning of the slot. That line is used to drill the holes for the tuners and also for placement in the head slotting jig.
I am not a luthier but as a customer I would like to recommend Pablo Requena. http://spanishguitar.org.uk/ In the past he has repaired two guitars for me and refretted another. The repairs were tricky but came out perfectly, almost invisible. I was very impressed by his attention to detail, technical ability and craftsmanship.
I find it interesting that Pablo now uses two jigs instead of one. I think it's because he doesn't use a really powerful and fast router. Other than that perhaps he is just being overly cautious
That’s the key. A 2000 W router would do it easily with one jig without burning the edges, but it’s a heavy and expensive tool. I for one use a Festool 1010 and need to prepare the job making first a smaller slot.
Fantastic tools even though they have become quite expensive nowadays. Years ago you could have them for way less. I have their whole basis plus system and foldable table with clamps and rails and I’m very happy with them.
Wow that festool 1010 costs more than my Trend T11e that does the job in 1 hit.
I'm not a fan of plunge routers. I use the same jig as Stephen but drill each end, saw close to the line with a saber saw then clean it up with a 1/2" flush cut bit. It takes a little longer but there's no burning and it doesn't require a big router.
I've used the LMII jig for over 30 guitars and it has worked well for me. Mine fits the head stocks I use 19-20mm head stock without difficulty.
I use two clamps in addition the the jigs on board clamp to hold the jig tightly to the head stock when drilling the tuner holes. Once these are drilled, the supplied pin in the center tuner hole holds the jig securely for slotting.
The two step approach described by LMII works well. Use a plunge router with a larger guide in plunge three steps, then use a smaller guide to take the final 1/16" off and and clean up the slots. I use dedicated routers (Porter Cable 690 series) for this so I don't have to fuss with router setup. Tuner holes and slots are a 20 minute operation, perfect every time.
Make one out of a chunk of aluminum. You can use a low speed steel bit. The trick with drilling aluminum is to put parafin wax on the drill it as you work. Just scrape a bar of wax over it and drill. Keep the bit lubricated.
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