First of all, I did some more template stuff, finished the headstock template which came out very nice and still working on the master template for the pickguard:

Then, I got this idea today when driving back home from work…

Trace the neck template with a copy bit to create an oversized neck pocket template:

Clean up the dust.. and you’ll end up with this:

Make a plug exactly 3 times the router bit’s thickness:

Attach it to a board of MDF, drill a hole through it and clamp it around the router bit on the router table:

Attach a new piece of MDF to the oversized neck pocket template and do some routing again:

And I’ve made an inverse copy of the neck, being the neck pocket:

So… well.. I think it came out quite nice for a first try, but it’s not good enough for me. Maybe I’ll try again, or maybe I’ll try to adjust the neck pocket template to make it fit better.

What happened? The blue tape around the plug was actually meant for adjusting possibility: at the first route the pocket was too tight, I peeled of a layer of tape and did another pass with the router. Still not large enough but almost there, so peeled another layer of tape of the plug… but there was only one layer left at that time and I thought: oh well, let’s take it of completely. And now it’s just a tad too large…