f holes

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on April 1, 2012 at 2:16am

Scroll saw. eBay. $50 max...

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Permalink Reply by Wade on April 1, 2012 at 4:43am

I second the scroll saw. I use a fine blade and cover area with masking tape to reduce tear out.

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Permalink Reply by The Phrygian Kid on April 1, 2012 at 5:06am

They're AWESOME fOr slotting fretboards too ;)

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Permalink Reply by Andres on April 1, 2012 at 5:11am

I use to my coping saw. But to make life little easyer i use freeway blades. So i dont hawe to rotate my soundboards to follow the contures. Something like that http://www.mehr-als-werkzeug.de/product/712530/Super-Glardon-Saw-Bl...

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on April 1, 2012 at 8:05am

Dremel or Rotozip.

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Permalink Reply by JUJU on April 1, 2012 at 11:13am

yep dremel for me too - with a down cut cutter works a treat :)

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Permalink Reply by Skeesix on April 1, 2012 at 12:47pm

Drill holes for the rounded ends. Then use a Dremel with a router base and spiral bit for the rest. Get it close to your lines, then clean up with flat and round files as necessary.

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Permalink Reply by MichaelS Country Boy Guitars on April 2, 2012 at 11:23am

I also drill the round ends firsat, but I use a saber saw with a fine tooth blade to cut the inbetween, put some weak masking tape on the face draw a shape and cut, the tape will help it cut clean with no tear out or splintering. good luck, many ways to cut an F hole.

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Permalink Reply by Donny Bell on April 1, 2012 at 8:59pm

Jim, they have a new Dremmel out that I plan on buying soon...... it looks like a palm sander but looks like it cuts really nice like a scroll saw. Might work really well, but it sells for $99-. I am a bit limited as I am renting a townhouse until I can sell my house in Knoxville, so something like this new dremmel would work well since I do everything on my porch!

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Permalink Reply by Bluesheart on April 3, 2012 at 6:42pm

Drill holes then Jig saw with fine cut blade made for cutting curves. I usually tape some thin cardboard to the foot of the saw to keep it from beating up the box. Masking tape on the box will help with tear out but may cause other problems like messing up labels etc. I find that a good blade and some patience will eliminate most tear out problems. Depending on the size of the Fs, you may still have to use a coping saw of files to get into the tightest spots.

Just what seems to work for me.

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Permalink Reply by Jim on May 11, 2012 at 10:00pm

awesome, THANKS ALL FOR THE ADVICE!

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Permalink Reply by Don Barnhill on May 12, 2012 at 12:30am

There's a small pin in the table under an f-holed template. Fasten the top on the template and then place the template over the pin in the table. Lower the trimmer router into the top and move the bottom around and the template underneath follows the pin and cuts a perfect f-hole.

Here's a link to see it in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fQ3ME1Oqmi8

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