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All right - 1st acoustic guitar kit build for me. Not going to actually starting right away due to life type things going on so I thought I should put the sides in the mold to maybe help them keep their shape. Cut a silver off the length of the sides as they needed it. The neck block seems to fit fine but I'm gonna have to fit the tail block. It came with some radius to it but not enough for a good fit...I'm enjoying this already!

keeping it in the mold is good
check out this vid on screwing in the neck block
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcM3GErOI_A

does one screw in the head block before roughing in the kerfing and leave it in....?
does one also screw in the tail block as well ?

Thanks John!
Thronson > just the neck block from watching the video is what I understand.

Had a chance to mess around on my guitar today. Radiused the back and did my best at getting the geometry roughed in the top. Had a side crack a tiny bit at the top of the mold by the neck block. Wicked some thin super glue in and got it back together. Might have been a bit rough with the sanding.
Got the neck and heel blocks glued in....seemed to go all right. Hoping to have time to do the kerfing tomorrow!

Ok - removed the clamps and the neck block looks good. The tail block on the other hand is flush with the top rim, must of slipped or more likely I didn't catch it. I'm thinking a 28' radius is fairly shallow and I can just radius down the rim again until I have the full radius in the tail block then re-angle the the neck correctly?

thronson wrote:does one screw in the head block before roughing in the kerfing and leave it in....?
does one also screw in the tail block as well ?

The neck/end blocks are glued into place before the kerfing. I screw the neck block (when it's glued) and leave it screwed in until the end block is glued in place, and both are set. Then remove the screw. The reason for screwing the neck block is to ensure geometry when you install the neck; it makes it easier. There is no need to screw the end block into place, just clamp it.

After the blocks are in place permanently, the kerfing is glued into the top/bottom. Do all of this with the guitar in the mold.

joseph d wrote:Ok - removed the clamps and the neck block looks good. The tail block on the other hand is flush with the top rim, must of slipped or more likely I didn't catch it. I'm thinking a 28' radius is fairly shallow and I can just radius down the rim again until I have the full radius in the tail block then re-angle the the neck correctly?

You're probably good to go as is, but I would simply plane the tail block a bit to reintroduce the radius, to take stress off of the top. The angle is ~ 1.5 degrees; it doesn't take much.

Thanks Diane.

Had time to get the ribbons and kerfing going

Kerfing done..hopefully this weekend I can get started on bracing the back and top.