Luthiery Laboratories

A scroll saw is a step up from a jigsaw. Scroll saws are ideal for cutting thin materials like pickguards, but with patience, you can push a scroll saw through even a body blank. For cutting thicker materials, and just in general, a band saw is better and faster.

A scroll saw does have one advantage over a band saw: You can disassemble the blade and reassemble it through a hole in the workpiece, to make entirely interior cuts. A jigsaw can also do this, but a band saw cannot.

Much like a jigsaw, a scroll saw will cut fairly perpendicular when going straight, but the blade will bend around curves, so stay well outside your line and sand-in.