Bolt-on Dove Tail?

[tippie53]

As for dovetails the key is to learn how to do it. The main key to any neck is mating the faces of the joints. Keep in mind that you mate the cheeks to the body so you get proper alignment . Angle , Center and elevation . This is one thing all necks have in common except elevation.
Once you align the neck , then you work the tenon. Bolt on necks must be set the only difference is you don't have to adjust elevation of the neck to the block . I make no secret that I am a traditionalist and use dovetails. Wayne Henderson , David Nichols , TJ Thompson , John Arnold , Dudenbostle , to name a few use Dovetails. I think Mario uses a bolt on as does JJ and they have a following.
I feel a dovetail shows a higher degree of skill from the builder . Take the time to learn how to do them and you will soon see the simplicity of them. It is the only neck joint that can support the string load without glue or use of a fastener.
If you use bolt on necks be the best at setting them ,use what you like.
The original question was can I bolt on a Dovetail Yes but now you don't have a dovetail but a bolt on and you may loose glue area as the bolt can pull the neck tenon into the block . It is ok to shim a dovetail. Just think wedge joint. Keep it simple and you can succeed at them . Here is a link to setting a neck , it really isn't hard but it does take some basic skill. If you don't have very sharp chisels use an angled sanding block . That is the technique I demo here.

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... 2l82l1l1l0

[Darryl Young]

Wow, 2 different posters listing famous luthiers.........and "Young" wasn't on either list??? <smile> What's up with that? In fact, in this entire topic, no one has asked what kind of neck joint I use. Hello........I built a guitar one time for crying out loud.......

Similar to Obama, while I haven't created a bunch of guitars........I've save a bunch of guitars. Possibly more than many of these famous luthiers have even built.......though it's dufficult to put a true number on.

[tippie53]

What neck joint do you use ? LOL
I love repairing older guitars to

[Kevin Sjostrand]

My neck joint's connected to my back joint!, my back joints connected to my butt joint.

He he.

Kevin

[tippie53]

as you get older your joints may not connect anymore

[Jim_H]

As I get older, my joints feel like they are connected with concrete.

[Ken Hundley]

I think it all starts when that butt joint starts sagging.....everything becomes disjointed after that.

All kidding aside, I screwed up my first dovetail, and converted it to a bolt on....only used one bolt, built up the cheeks with some rosewood shims and trimmed and flossed until the alignment was right. That was in 2004....haven't had a single problem since then, and she's my daily player. It's down 'n dirty, but will work if you are careful.

[JRHall]

There is one very good reason to master the dovetail neck joint. No matter what the reality is, there are a number of consumers of custom made guitars who look at this as a litmus test for a quality product. If you use a dovetail on your builds, you will never have to convince anyone that your – bolt on, mortis and tennon, or whatever- is just as good. For perception reasons, it’s the highest common denominator.

[JRHall]

Seems customers would appriciate knowing the reality?

http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/General ... #NeckJoint

But our "reality" may be different than their perception. I realize there is probably no perceptible difference between the different neck joints, but that is not always what a customer thinks. Just take a look at the UMGF website, there are even people there who won't buy a guitar with "wings" on the headstock. Just think how traditional they'd be about neck joints.

If dovetails intimidate anyone, just make the pilgrimage to Hegins, PA and pay John for a half day class in setting necks. It's easier than it seems at first, once you see an expert do it.

[Darryl Young]

I would love to to spend a day with John learning to set a dovetail neck! Maybe I can work that out on a future build.

I don't think of a dovetail as having a higher failure rate or inferior in any way......just takes more time to deal with (at least it would for me). This joint has stood the test of time. Just the way people are, but you may or may not have success convincing a customer to use a different option. Push back too much and they may just look elsewhere (might assume you don't want to use this style neck join so may not do the best job).

Personally, I want to know how to fit a dovetail. It's considered the traditional option which appeals to a lot of folks. I want to build bluegrass guitars......and these folks tend to be traditionalists. If you don't believe this, build a banjo killer with an artsy-fartsy style headstock and take it to a few festivals and try selling it.......