Bolt-On Neck Problem

[Darryl Young]

What JP said. I had to do something similar on my first build. I removed a little off the bottom of the neck tenon and re-rounded that portion.......then I used a rat tail file to elongate the holes in the neck block since it needed to be shifted down 1/32" or so.

[kencierp]

As I mentioned in my post we saw the lack of slotted holes in the LMII and SM blocks as a short coming so the KMG design prevents the problem, here's some pics of the KMG neck block

http://www.kennethmichaelguitars.com/rim2.html

Plus with the counter bores, the bolts can be completely hidden with a label or veneer cap.

[tippie53]

I agree that a small slotted block for this often solves the problem. I don't know why the don't slot them. We here at Blues creek also slot the bolt on blocks.

[Logan]

Sounds good. I re-watched John's video on youtube about doing your sides and realized I actually had accidently done what he did - so I'm glad that worked out after all.

If I sand the bottom of the bolt holes a bit to allow the neck to sit lower (from what I can see, the bottom of the tennon joint actually doesn't hit bottom, just the bolts), will the bolts and tennon still be secure enough to provide a stable neck with the Stewmac set-up, or is doweling and redrilling probably the better bet? One reason to worry about an entire re-drill would be; I don't have a drill press, and I'd worry about veering off course ever so slightly with a hand drill creating a problem in a different direction.

I don't plan on gluing the neck in at all...before I ordered this kit I had done a bunch of reading on the two types of neck and decided that the bolt on appealed to my personal preferences for modification and longevity of the instrument. I'm not so vain that I figure any instrument I build won't have someone tinkering with it down the line to make it better.

[johnnparchem]

I would use a rat-tail file to file the bottom\back sides of the bolt holes a bit to allow the neck to sit lower. Basically creating the slot like Ken had in his picture.