Hello Lovely CNC People

[the great waldo]

Hello Archie
As a guitar maker myself and a fairly hopeless cnc person (brought up before calculators were invented) I got a makko machine years ago and it sat in my workshop for years as a shelf. I discovered uccnc software eventualy which made the machine actually workable although not great. I think Jazz should be able to sort you out with a good machine. I did end up buying plans and videos from https://cncguitar.com/cnc-guitar/fus...rchtop-guitar/ and found them easy to use with ready files and tutorials (I'm not affiliated with the company) If you have some pre made files it makes things faster and the videos are good for learning. May I mention that you should try and make a Jazz guitar by hand first to learn the realities of putting an instrument together. When it comes to making guitars cnc will save you a lot of time for many stages but also slow you down (Initially ) in other stages. Producing multiple parts for example where the main effort goes into the 3d designing in the software which after it's done than it's just a matter of setting up and routing. CNC is a bit like learning another language, hard at first and then it clicks and becomes much easier. Good luck and have fun and always make test cuts in mdf or insulation board to save mucking up and expensive spruce top or maple back.
Cheers
Andrew

[Archy]

Hi Waldo

Thanks for the message of encouragement.

Yes I've been in touch with Spiro at CNCguitar.com. He's been helping advise me regarding software compatibility on machines and he helped me look over a machine I was interested in. His educational videos look really good and he's encouraging me to use F360 so happy to get that side sorted. Really nice guy.

Now it's just a case of buying a machine or alternatively paying someone to CNC the parts for me.

It had crossed my mind that paying someone to machine the parts, from plans I've bought from someone else, or getting someone with CAD experience to help me design what I want, might be the easier way to actually get things going. I can then spend my money on luthier tools for the fretting and spraying, although getting some one to do that might be better too.
Maybe I'm turning into Ibanez :)

On the other hand, there's nothin like having a new toy.

We'll see what Dean says.