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is t wrong to biscuit or dowel two piece blanks for making bodies? all of the thickness planers i am looking at are 12 or 13 inches. too thin for a body

I used biscuits on a the first guitar I ever made, but haven't since. It's not really necessary, you can if you want to. If you do use biscuits, plan their placement carefully though.

You can get by with a 13" planer, for a two piece body. Plane each board then glue them.

I prefer to have my boards rough planed at the mill (to within 1/4" of spec), joint them (edges are trued) on my jointer, glue them, pass em through a 15" planer, then run em through a drum sander.... get a "true" flat blank. If your mill has a planer, you might just want to have them do it for you. And purchase a 16"/32" drum sander. They run about $450 (used) - $1500 (new). Stay away from "Delta" drum sanders, they consistently get bad reviews on Amazon.com. Jet/Performax consistently great reviews. For a hobbyist builder, a drum sander with rough grit paper is as good as a planer, if you plan on knocking 1/8" & 1/4" off.... I wouldn't use it knock 3/4" off though.

15" planers will do most guitars. Explorers are 16"+, so you'd need a 20" planer. Rob said he had 18" Delta planer, think he said it was open ended... basically he could do 36" boards. 12", 13", 15", 20" & 24" are typical planer sizes. I buy all my tools off of craigslist, I saw a Jet 15" planer go for $300 (amazing) a few weeks ago... 15" powermatic $750 (fair) last week.

I don't own a planer or drum sander. I usually buy some pizza & a 6 pack of beer, and go to 2 different cabinet shops locally. Hadn't been turned away yet.

you can use a router to thickness plane.
http://home.asparagine.net/ant/blog/?page_id=8

Don't think you need to do either to glue up. Doweling would be a good way to do it because you would have minimal void, gut you would need to get a jig to do a good job. I have a 12" delta planer and it is good. Remember you get some snipe with most of these bench-top planers so plan your lengths accordingly. If you are doing a one off or a couple of bodies, finding a cabinet carpenter to plane them for you and square the edge would be a good idea. Most people are cool and don't have a problem doing this type of thing when they have spare time. If you have a woodworkers type store in you area maybe one the the guys that work there would do it for you.

Thanks guys. Looking at drum sanders, I think I can make one in our shop at work. I have to do some figuring in any case. I'm definitely looking to only remove 1/8 - 1/4" at a time, so that would be very feasible. Thanks again.

Wish I was the kid of a rich family........

Jet 16/32 $999 shipped


Jet 22/44 $1400 shipped


I offered somebody $300 for a King 15" planer yesterday. Will know if it's the highest offer in a few days... I doubt I'll get it though

Good luck!