This week, I began sanding my guitar body. I used 80 grit sandpaper to smooth the sides of the body to allow the routing bit to not catch. After a few days of sanding with 80, I spent one day sanding the body with 100 grit sandpaper to get rid of some of the larger scratches on the sides which the 80 grit sandpaper created.
The 80 grit sandpaper took off a great deal of wood and created large scratches on the sides of the guitar. Switching over to 100 grit sandpaper took less wood off the body and smoothed out the scratches on the sides.
After sanding down the body, I routed the edges of the body. I used a smaller bit to achieve the look I wanted. I burned a few spots on the guitar but, after sanding down the spots for a little while, the burns came out! The pictures below show my guitar body before routing, routing bit, sandpaper, and my body after routing.
Until next time, this is Amateur Guitar Builder signing off.
This is the front of my body after I routed it.
This is the back of my guitar body after I routed it.
The 80 grit sandpaper is on the left and the 100 grit sandpaper is on the right.
This is my guitar body before it was routed.
This is the routing bit I used on my guitar.
Amateur Guitar Builder 