I’m right in the middle of a Cigar Box Guitar build and need to install the pickup. I don’t have a template to rout the pickup cavity so I needed to make my own from scratch.

I found a scrap of MDF to make my template. MDF is great because its such a stable material and machines easily. I squared up the scrap on the table saw, just so I have straight lines to measure from. Then I marked out some center lines on the piece of MDF. I measured the size of the pickup and transferred those measurements to my template making sure it was centered on the piece. I traced in a few details of the pickup then got to work removing the waste material.

I drilled a pilot hole first, so that I could use the scroll saw to cut out the center of my template. Then I used a combination of files and sandpaper to fine tune the template to fit the pickup. I made sure to make the template just a bit larger than the pickup to accommodate for the rounded corners caused by using a router bit. Time to test it out.

I applied some low tack transfer tape meant for the graphics industry to the top of the cigar box, then stuck the template to the box using double sided tape. The low tack tape protects the finish of the box and still gives me something to apply the double sided tape to. I used a template bit in my router to slowly rout the pickup cavity. I made several passes, lowering the bit each pass, until I got to the depth I need. The template worked great. I will definitely be keeping this one around for future builds.

This technique will work great for whatever application you have. Its not just for guitars. In my opinion, its worth taking the time to create a good quality template, IT will last a long time and save you a ton of time on the next project. Check out the video below.

— Affiliate Links to Products Used —
3M Respirator (check your size) – https://amzn.to/30QMd5j

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