Cutting the terminal holes

I started cutting the f holes today. The first step is drilling the terminal holes. If you've ever drill holes in wood you know what happens when you break through...you get some chip out. There is neat way around that, drill a smaller hole and enlarge it with a piloted cutter. You can buy a really nice set of these, in .5mm steps, for violin/viola or cello for $100 and change. Or if you're a machinist, have a mini lathe in the basement, and have some old indicator holder pieces you can make your own. Guess which way I did it. Mine probably don't work as well as the store bought, but the price was right. The way it works is this: You drill a hole in the center of where the terminal will be, the same size as the pilot shaft on the tool you made, or bought. Then you slip on (screw on in my case) the right size bit for the whole you're cutting. Slip the pilot into the hole you drilled and then start turning the bit into the wood. It should cut a perfectly round hole exactly the size it was made. Here's the part that makes it a great idea. Only cut the bigger hole half way through. The pull out the tool, slip the pilot in from the back side and continue drilling the big hole from the inside. When the two holes connect a plug will fall out and your hole is done. Continue on for the other three holes, being sure to use the right tip for the hole you are doing. It would be hard to hide a 8.7mm UPPER terminal hole! I have four sizes: 6.5mm, 6.7mm, 8.1mm and 8.75mm. Don't exactly remember what I made them for, but I'm guessing 2 were for the Ole Bull, and the other two were for whatever model I was working on when I came up with the idea of making the tool. The "Titan" model I'm going for has 6.8mm and 9.6mm, so I don't have the right combo. Maybe I'll scrounge around and see if I can find something to make a 9.6 out of. If I remember correctly, 8.75 was the diameter of the fittings I had, so it was the largest size I could make out of them. If you are making a Guadagnini model, with teardrop holes you can disregard this post. By the way I think the teardrop Guads are pretty cool looking.