If you've ever split the side of a guitar body while trying to drill the jack socket hole (like I just did) then you'll do anything to keep it from happening again. Some of you may see this as unnecessary, but for me it seems very necessary. Today I made a jig for routing the jack socket instead of drilling. I went out into the shed with a rough idea of how it should work and then a few hours later this was the result:
Decided to include a second hole for left-handed guitars- Just in case it's needed in the future. Hole location was a bit off but that was sorted with a strip of wood behind the body to shim it out. Not a perfect design but it will serve it's purpose.
The wandering drill bit is always a risk, so anything that reduces that risk has to be a good thing
👍
My main worry tends to be drilling the hole for the neck pickup wire through to the bridge pickup cavity - this one;
because it's such a long drill bit, and fairly thin, so it can wander a bit.
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I think the main reason the wood ended up splitting is because I might not have had a big enough pilot hole. The drive tip on the auger bit acted like a wedge and put a 2mm wide split in the side going out about 3 inches on both sides of it. After freaking out for a couple seconds I grabbed my glue and a clamp to close the gap. Now you almost can't tell that it ever happened. Well, other than a hairline crack that nearly blends in with the grain. Using a drill bit that's any larger than a 1/2 inch on a guitar makes me uneasy. I'd rather do it this way.
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My first build brought a LOT of anxiety concerning the jack socket hole. Dang near ruined it too. I did have to use a rectangular jack plate because of it instead of the football shaped one I had planned to use. A close enough look and you can still see a sliver of the wallowed out hole.
Thank you again, I will be making one of these very soon. Large drill bits scare me too but large router bits scare me even more. And I have one I plan to use later today. Nervous as a cat in a room full of rocking chairs about it too. 😂
I've either clamped the body to my drill press table, did the 12mm hole then a bowl and dish to make a recess. The most recent I went straight in with a forstner bit in the hand drill to make the recess then the 12mm brad point. Both have worked great with zero wander or that. I use the barrel jacks.
In the past I used an auger bit but I drilled a 5mm hole first so the threaded bit on the end couldn't grab and pull it through.
I wouldn't recommend using an auger bit for that though. If wanting a big hole for a regular socket I'd recommend a forstner bit, they're brilliant.
