Initial Neck Fit Questions...Stewmac 000

[pryde]

Hello again everyone,
I got busy for a while and now am back at my stewmac 000 build. I am doing an initial fit-up with the bolt on neck with some photos below. Right now without any modification the neck bolts in with the tenon about .020' proud of the top. (see in photos). I also took some with a straight edge along the neck to show the relationship as well.

Now, I now that I will need to do tenon shaping for the final neck fit/angle, BUT:

a. do I need to do anything now before gluing on the fretboard? Is this close enough or should I get that tenon flush with the top now before glueing on the fretboard?
b. If so, do I just sand the top of the neck and tenon down until flush? I cant take any off the bottom because the bolt-on has it fixed at this height.

Thanks for any insight.

[darren]

You should be fine to trim the bottom of the tenon and enlarge the bolt holes in the neckblock.

Do not sand the top of the neck - you need this straight and inline with your neck angle.

[Ben-Had]

You should be fine to trim the bottom of the tenon and enlarge the bolt holes in the neckblock.

Do not sand the top of the neck - you need this straight and inline with your neck angle.

That's the ticket.

[tippie53]

use the flat side of the neck gauge
I find that gauge by stew mac a useless tool and I will tell you why
The fretboard should be trued , once trued you fret the board. I personally started to fret the board on the neck for a better and more true fret plane. Since the fret plane is not on the fretboard , there is nothing that the gauge can usefully tell you that a good straight edge can't .
A straight edge is more useful , this allows you to see the plane of the frets. Having the notches won't give you a true read. Like many I purchased many tools that now decorate my tool box.

[pryde]

Thanks everyone.
The notched-straight edge is quite true when checked against a polished marble surface so I am not to concerned about that. I will invest in a good straight edge though as recommended.

I just used it to show that the tenon AND neck is slighty proud of the body during the initial bolt-up. I realize that I will need to do final neck fitting/cheek adjustment after the fretboard is glued on.

FWIW. I SLIGHTLY enlarged the bolt holes and sanded a tiny amount from the bottom of the tenon so now the neck surface and tenon top are flush. I will glue the neck, then do the cheek shaping to get my correct angle. Good?