monkey grip

[chef21]

Hi has anyone sucessfully cut a monkey grip into a guitar that isn't going to be refinished, and not chipped the paint around the cut out. I want to do it to my 350dx, but am afraid i will chip all the paint around it. Would putting tape down first and drilling through it help. any feed back would be appreciated. chef21

[Petrucci]

perfectly impossible IMO. and what's the point considering you'll have to paint the inside of the grip when finished ?

[buddroyce]

The only way I've ever managed to do any cutting/routing on a guitar body and avoid chipping the rest of the paint was to score the shape out, essentially cutting through all of the finish before routing. It can be done, but it's tricky and time consuming.

[ryanb]

Scoring all the way through the finish first would be essential, and tape may help some too. But the chances of taking some chunks out of your finish are still pretty high. And as Petrucci already said, you still have to finish the inside of the monkey grip. But if you really want to do it, give it a try and work very slowly and carefully. If it works, great. If it doesn't work, you just have a little more finishing work to do.

[vette6600]

damn that sounds like a job. if you do it, lets see some pics.