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So I want to think about doing a forearm contour on my next build...

I never tried to do it before but I felt the easy part is putting the wood inside and shaping the actual contour itself, the hard part is bindings.

How are bindings done on forearm contours? It seems like it's impossible to do with just a hand router because of the irregular surface. I seen one guy just make a template, is that how it's done? What about the side purfling?

This just seems like a CNC job...

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

That' the way I've seen it done, using a template. Same for the side purfling, template.
What's CNC? Not something for building guitars surely.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Do you mean an arm bevel? If you don't mind taking an on-line class for a reasonable price this is a good resource. Kent Everette shows you how he does it. I followed his instruction and was pretty pleased with the results.

https://obrienguitars.com/courses/arm-bevel

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Steve Sollod (pronounced sorta like "Solid")
www.swiftcreekguitars.com

Here's a freebie https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CK_EVunKZQg&t=6s

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

Or buy an American Lutherie #110 https://www.luth.org/back_issue/al109-112/al110.html
"Making a Scoop Cutaway and Armrest Bevel by Jeffrey Yong
Here’s a step-by-step photo essay of making the cutaway and armrest by using angled interior blocks and then cutting into them after the instrument is assembled."

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

thanks for the tips. I think that tips du jour tells me everything I need to know.

Sounds like making the template and shaping the bevel to that template is a better way to go about this than making a template for every guitar that gets an arm bevel.

I have some practice to do.

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Cat-gut strings are made from kitten guts, stretched out to near breaking point and then hardened with grue saliva. As a result these give a feeling of Pain and anguish whenever played, and often end up playing themselves backwards as part of satanic rituals.

Typhoon Guitars
http://www.typhoon-guitars.com

Mike Doolin came up with a really clever alternative way to do a forearm contour. Not a side bevel, but a bent top. He gives a pictorial tute here:
http://www.doolinguitars.com/articles/armbevel/

My method, using giant dentellones rather than a solid block http://www.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=645146#p645146