New acoustic from Blues Creek Guitars for my oldest son...

[justrfb]

Hello All.
Here are some pictures of the rim being prepped to receive the back and top. Thanks for your interest...

Sincerely,
Rich

[mnmusic]

What body style is that kit?

Thanks.

[justrfb]

Hello mnmusic.
It is a Dreadnaught size Martin kit from John Hall at Blues Creek Guitars. It is an awesome kit with superb support from John and this list.

Top and bottom are on, waiting for binding... Another question... I know it has been covered before a million times but I like hearing from the best with reassuring advice... My neck joint is perfect in every way... Centered, no wiggle, no rock... I can give it one good shot with the heel of my hand and it is in. The one thing it is is too high! I need to drop it a good 3/16's. Could you give me the correct method. Shave the neck dove tail part, the cheeks of the neck, the body joint walls? I have to remove material some where to drop the neck, but where... Thanks for your help.

Sincerely,
Rich

[johnnparchem]

I would take wood from the tenon only where it gets mark by chalk. Go slow, re check often The neck should drop in bit by bit. John Hall has great videos on this.

[justrfb]

Thanks John.
I am doing as suggested and it is working out splendidly! I was able to have John Hall show/help me reset the neck on my first build as I didn't put enough angle into it and the bridge was down to nothing and the action was still high. So we reset the neck on a month old guitar. It was awesome to see and learn... FYI!!! It doesn't take much at all to get the neck to drop! I am going slow and steady and ever so slightly taking off where the chalk leaves it's mark and I only have a 32'nd or two left. Making sure the angle is right now so I don't have to reset this neck when I am finished. John at Blues Creek Guitars is bending and sending some nice Rosewood binding for the build and some more fish glue! Thank you all again for your interest and help.

Sincerely,
Rich

[justrfb]

Well... Things were going great!... As I said, I still had "some meat" on the joint and all I had to do was roll the neck down a little as the neck was coming down. I watched John's wonderful video again too... Now... My neck is under flush and I still don't have enough room between the plane of the fret board and the top of the bridge!... HHHhhhmmmmmmm... This is a humbling experience... As soon as I think "I got it going on..." Whamm... Knock me down. I have to shim now and I still need to roll the neck down. Can someone please let me know it will be OK and how to roll the neck down. Thanks so much!

Sincerely,
Rich

[johnnparchem]

.... I still don't have enough room between the plane of the fret board and the top of the bridge!... HHHhhhmmmmmmm... This is a humbling experience...

No problem shimming the tenon. I actually always shim the tenon, I get that it may not be the best practice, but starting with loose tenon such that I can drop the neck in flush, I very carefully set the neck angle and the neck center (this is careful work on only the heal cheeks) then I shim the tenon and work to drop the tenon into the dove joint without ever touching the heel cheeks again.

I do not understand the above quoted comment, with out a fret board you should have about 2.5 - 3 mm of space between a straight edge on the neck and the top. With the fret board the straight edge should just clear the bridge. Do not try to set the dove tail until the neck angle is set correctly.

If the neck angle changed after setting your dovetail, make sure that you have enough relief between the heel cheeks that touch the sides and the tenon, Otherwise the neck will not sit properly on the rim and can through off the angle.

[justrfb]

Hello John.
Thank you!... Thanks for answering and giving some encouraging words of advice. I feel better and will address the issue when I get home this evening. It makes sense to adjust the angle and center line with the cheeks... Can I ask, what do you use to shim the joint? I glued in a strip of plain old printer paper. I figured paper is made of wood and is very uniform in thickness. Thanks for your help. Feeling better is a good thing...

Sincerely,
Rich

[johnnparchem]

I usually use wood shims, often a thin strip of mahogany from a cutoff. I use wood because I want something easy to pare away with a chisel, or easy to sand.

I use a sharp chisel and chalk when dropping the tenon into the mortise. I put chalk in the mortise, check the fit and then use the chisel to just remove the marked spots on the tenon. If you are doing it correctly along the way close to be finished a large part of each side of the tenon will be marked each time. You can sand as well with a sanding block that only removes wood from the tenon. Only a little at a time and recheck.

[watergunn]

I make my shims from a piece of mahogany using a small hand plane. I can usually cut them paper thin.

Rick Gunn