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I'm not expecting my first build is going to sound or look beautiful, but I sure want it to be playable. Dovetail is loose and drops almost below the soundboard. I've watched John's and other videos, searched and read through this forum, googled for days, have Bill Cory's book, read KMG site, and everything I've found details everything going as planned, I think I need to find the "OMG what happened" link somewhere. All I've done is cutout the pocket and light sand the body flat as in John's 1st video.

Here's a few pics, thanks in advance for any info, this forum has been very helpful.

I had a similar situation. The dovetail mortise was too big, and John sent me some shim stock to fill it in. Everything turned out fine.

Mike

Thanks, maybe since I got my kit from John he'll provide same. There's a Rockler close to me, I could probably get shims there, do you know what I'd be looking for (dimension, material)? Any tips for working with the shims

You can get some veneer wood . I think a 1/16 would be a good place to start. Remember that you only work the outer cheeks to set the neck angle and center line. Once you get that established than thin the shims to drop the neck into the block . Keep the neck just a touch above the top about .010 so you can force it in later

Went and got a small sheet of mahogany vaneer, .6, so I'll probably need a couple pieces to shim this. Just want to be sure, the 'outer cheeks would be the sides of the tenon? So the process would be to glue shim pieces to the outer cheeks then sand as needed to arrive at the correct angle?

blnote wrote:Went and got a small sheet of mahogany vaneer, .6, so I'll probably need a couple pieces to shim this. Just want to be sure, the 'outer cheeks would be the sides of the tenon? So the process would be to glue shim pieces to the outer cheeks then sand as needed to arrive at the correct angle?

The angle and the centering of the neck are adusted with the cheeks that end up on the top side of the guitar. The shims do go on the tenons but they are sanded for fit not for angle. Given that the tenon basically goes all the way in without the shims, I would set the angle and centering before gluing on the shims. Then after glueing on the shims I would carefully sand down them down so that the dove tail is tight and at this point just proud of the top. I used chalk in the mortise as I got close to make sure that the whole tenon was in contact. When test fitting the neck the chalk will show the areas hitting the mortise.

Think ACE Angle Center Elevation.
Don't glue in the shims yes but you want enough shim so you are above the top about 3/16. Then with a straight edge on the top of the neck without the fretboard , you want to be 1/16 to 1/8 in higher at the point of the saddle .
If you are 1/8 above the top at the neck block you should see 3/16 to 1/4 clearance off the top at the saddle . You can see the procedure on you tube under blues creek guitars dovetail.
Once you have the angle set , adjust the center line to within 1/8 in at the tail block then adjust the neck tenon to drop it into the block.

I would be willing to bet that because you are asking the right questions and have a good understanding of what you are doing that your guitar will end up looking and sounding better than you are expecting.

David L

I sure hope so, as long as it looks, sounds, and plays like a guitar I'll be happy

A note to add , that screw insert in the neck tenon is only for production in the spray booth . I think you are on the right track