DIY Forearm contour/tummy cut/contoured heel on parts Tele

[idsnowdog]

Yamaha Pacifica Tele's have tummy cuts. You can find them on Craigslist for $150.

[Rocket John]

I used a Black & Decker 20v lithium orbital sander. Started with 40 grit and progressed thru to 120. Final sanding I went to 800. Although I worked all the way to 10000 on my rosewood Tele neck...

I go for the "sexy spine" for the strat and just a bit of arm relief for the Tele.

[alex1fly]

I've refinished one guitar and sanded everything with 400 grit. I see the wisdom in using progressively smaller grit, but I got it pretty dang smooth with 400. Do however much you wish!

Also +1 on finishing it with something. Oil, wax, paste, poly, lacquer, anything. Waxes and pastes have to be reapplied. I've had success with danish oil, tung oil, and various polyurethanes. One or two coats has been fine for my project.

[PS412]

You only need one hand per tool.

Birdman, don't use the chain disc.

I love the chain disc. They hang on the peg labelled Mangler and Sons.

[orpheo]

Awesome

Awesomer.

Hell no. I work with wood, guitars, professionally and even I wouldn't use this. One stray shard in the room and you'll be castrated at best, blind at worst.

[Ace Flibble]

Yeah, I wouldn't try doing the whole lot with a sander. I've only had to add a forearm contour twice and a gut contour once, so I'm hardly a definitive authority on the subject, but in all three cases I got most of the bulk out with a simple wood saw, then a big rounded rasp to blend in the edges, and finally an orbital sander with medium grit to do the fine shaping; I always do fine grit sanding by hand.
A forearm contour usually drops to around half the thickness of the body blank – that's a lot of wood to get through with a sander, even with very rough grit. Plus it's a lot cleaner if you can get most of the wood out in one lump rather than having dust and splinters flying everywhere. Draw your contours onto the body, saw or rasp off (I can't vouch for a chisel; it could work but I usually use softer woods that get damaged too easily by chisels and avoid them) the majority of it just a couple of millimetres above your contour lines, then break out the sander to get right down to the lines.

[PS412]

If the contours are what I envision, you might loose your mind going at it all with an orbital sander. A good heavy rasp or a hammer and sharp chisel will get the bulk gone quicker. Then file and hand sand to final shape and finish.

[Clint 55]

You can start as rough as 40 then 80 and 120 will take out the deep scratches without much effort. Then fine sand to ur preference.

[Birdman642]

I’m sure this was answered already, but if I’m using a power sander for a rough cut, coarser is better. What grit should I be starting with?

[ICTGoober]

If you use a four-in-hand, wear gloves...

[Clint 55]

What Ehd said. Just choose whatever tool you're most comfortable with to do the heavy material removal whether it's a rasp or sander or whatever. Then take out the scratches by hand sanding with progressively finer grits. I usually go as coarse as possible to make it easier 40,80,120,180/220 but that's just my preference as an example.

[ehdwuld]

start coarse to aggressively get to where you want
rasp is coarser than sand paper

a palm sander or belt sander are going to be slow even if you use 80 grit

start with 80 then 120
then gradually up to close to 1000 - anything above 500 should be good

the fine paper just removes the scratches from the coarse paper
then wipe off with a tack cloth
and wipe on oil

[Birdman642]

So I use the power sander to do the rough cut, what grit should I be using for that?
Then file it with a rasp, any specific grit for that?
then smooth it with sandpaper. What grit for that?

What should I know about using Tru-oil as a finish? How many coats should I put on, how long to dry between each coat, is sanding needed between coats?

[ehdwuld]

I agree with Goob
a coat of OIl works to finish it
I use Tung oil
but Tru Oil is very much like it

[ICTGoober]

I've always used a four-in-hand combination file & rasp, rasp to rough, file to smooth. Sandpaper to finish. TruOil finishes can be renewed easily, no problem. Anyone can operate a rag.