CNC Routing Guitars

[ththomas41]

Hey Guys,

I'm interested in building a strat-style guitar from scratch but there's one problem: I have absolutely zero experience with CNC machining. I'm at the stage where I probably don't know what I don't know, and I could really use the help of somebody with some time and patience.



A few questions:

1. I have CAD models for the body and neck, but I am not sure how to go about using this to create the toolpath. I see that you guys use a program called VCarve, but it looks like VCarve doesn't work with Mac. Is there another option, or am I going to have to mess with a virtual machine? 

2. If I do get this going, how difficult is it to create a good toolpath that wont mess up my project? Are there any limitations of the machine that I should be aware of when creating the toolpath?

3. What size is the bit/how small can this thing cut? the fret slots in particular are pretty small, but I could also do those by hand if it was too much of a hassle.


I'm sure I'll have more questions, but if anybody could help me start there it would be greatly appreciated.