Neck and tail blocks

[Ben-Had]

Do y'all radius these blocks?

[seanbig]

Ben,

Yes; when radiusing the sides with a concave luthier disk (driving the bus in BCS), the neck and tail blocks get that same radius. Then your top and back sit nicely into your sides and the neck and tail blocks will be good gluing surfaces and will mate nicely.

BCS - Blues Creek Speak

[David L]

Do y'all radius these blocks?

Ben,

Yes; when radiusing the sides with a concave luthier disk (driving the bus in BCS), the neck and tail blocks get that same radius. Then your top and back sit nicely into your sides and the neck and tail blocks will be good gluing surfaces and will mate nicely.

BCS - Blues Creek Speak

Or are you asking about radiusing the sides of the blocks that get glued to the sides themselves?

David L

[kencierp]

The long side of the tail block can have gentle radius (OM/D etc) or a pronounced radius like the J185, J200, Martin performer series etc. The top side edge is flat, the back side edge is radiused to 15' or 20'. Some tail blocks have an angle shaved on the inside edges so the net thickness on the ends is the same as the width of the kerfing -- I do like this method.

The neck block has a slight radius on the edges, the surface under the neck heel is left flat -- this slight taper allows for a nice smooth transition so the sides do not have a sharp bend coming around the upper bout curve. The back edge is radiused at 15' or 20' The top surface of the neck block is sanded flat at a 1.3 degree angle.

[Ken Hundley]

I radius the tail block where the sides meet....fits into my mold just right. The top and bottom get radiused as I sand the edges of the rim to fit the top and back plates. I like to radius the inside corners..I think it looks good, and I do not like right angles (corners, so to speak) in a transition on the inside of a plate....stress riser to my way of thinking. Radiusing my corners spreads the joint stress there. Something from my ultrasonics days.

PB020002.JPG

[tippie53]

yes radius them to match your mold.

[Ben-Had]

Do y'all radius these blocks?

Ben,

Yes; when radiusing the sides with a concave luthier disk (driving the bus in BCS), the neck and tail blocks get that same radius. Then your top and back sit nicely into your sides and the neck and tail blocks will be good gluing surfaces and will mate nicely.

BCS - Blues Creek Speak

Or are you asking about radiusing the sides of the blocks that get glued to the sides themselves?

David L

Boy was that an open ended question but yes, that's the spot I was talking about and John H gave me the answer I was looking for. However, there were a lot of other good things to think about. Thanks for the responses everyone.