starting to set my Dovetail

[Haggis]

what about the hight between the top and the top side of the neck? what hight do i need to be able to work it down?

[tippie53]

you need to check 3 things 1st neck angle 2nd Neck center to top center 3 neck fit.
You need to match the neck angle for the top and action ( you like to see less than an 1/8 inch and more the 1/16 at the point of the saddle off the top without the fretboard. If the fretboard is on you want be able to have a straigt line , with the frets of about 1/16 above the bridge,
If you can make those adjustments that is all the shim you need.

[Haggis]

Ok thanks.
My plan was to focus on the female joint, build it up enough..and after that follow your videos and adjust the male part to get the right angles.

[tippie53]

Make the adjustments to the male part . You may glue in the shim to the block just to bring the neck to height

[Haggis]

I´ve glued a few shim in the block now, and I got 5-6 mm to work with. I relieved the heal on both sides as well as the bottom part. Then I used the hammer to hit on the guitar.....but it´s not biting. If I press it with my hands then it bites a little, but I can remove the neck by hand. I then checked the mating surface using carbide paper, and I could see a couple of spots on both sides of the block where it´s tight
My question: Should I try to level the high spots in the block or is it a bad idea?
/Häggis

[tippie53]

It seems your angles may be off. to get things to tighten up work slow and just keep removing the carbon marks off. A tite fit is more than possible. If you are not getting tight often the dovetail may get the angle too flat. You want the grab at the bottom of the tenon. It has to pull the neck into the joint to lock.