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Hi all, I'm at the stage where I need to check the sides are square with the neck and tail blocks on my Stewmac dreadnought build.

As per the instructions from Stewmac I have inserted a wedge against the neck block side as this was out only slightly from square but the tail block seems to be out of square by approx 8/64ths. Inserting a wedge I don't think will square this up as it would require a lot of force to bring the rear end out by that much?

Does anyone have any advice pleas before I go on to sand the kerfing? Is the tail block end being out by this much going to cause me any major problems further down the line?

Thanks for reading.

Are your rims profiled for the top and the bottom? In both pictures is the guitar top side down? Its is hard for me to say what is what without a more of an understanding about what is going on. I have never built with the stewmac instructions and use an external mold that helps me keep things square.

Maybe other building to the Stewmac instructions will comment.

this is why I prefer using a mold. They hold the symetry and neck block in proper position. The neck block is more critical than the tail block.

Yes the guitar is facing top down in both pictures. With the stewmac kit the rims come already profiled I believe.

I have never seen the stew Mac instructions, but I do build without molds all the time. My procedure is different though, I build off the top. I fit and glue the blocks to the top then the rims to them. But that doesn't help you now. The neck block is the more important of the two, if the tail block is off a bit, especially tapered in at the back, it will not be a great problem.

I can also tell you that in free building without forms or molds that sometimes a fair bit of force is needed to get things as they should be. As I put my back on last, I will often use the back braces in their pockets and the center strip to push the rims around to square them up. Try a wedge as the instructions say and see what happens.

I am with Brian, make the blocks as square\parallel as possible following the instructions. Focus on the neck block as it is key to the setup geometry.

Thanks for the advice guys, I have tried a couple of things but I,m still having some issues getting both sides square.

Inserting the wedged shims against the cardboard mold and the tail block did bring the tail block inline slightly more but not enough (there isn't enough resistance against the card or dinner mold)

I then tried inserting a small baton inside the guitar which sat against the neck and tail blocks and then shimmed against that, this did have a more beneficial effect in bringing the tail block into square, however, in both cases shimming the tail block then subsequently throws the neck block out of square :(

I may just have to ensure the next block is square to the sides and live with tail block not being perfectly square...

As long as you have the neck block square, you will soon forget the tail block isn't perfect after you've finished.

Brian - you wrote:
As I put my back on last, I will often use the back braces in their pockets and the center strip to push the rims around to square them up. Try a wedge as the instructions say and see what happens.

How do you ensure that the the neck angle will remain correct if you are pushing the back around? I have found that doing this causes the fretboard to aim in the wring direction (up and down, not side to side)

Thanks

Ed Minch

I use a neck block that is larger than what is typically seen in a Martin for one. But it is really a function of geometry. The back braces fit into pockets cut into the linings. By ensuring that they are the proper length they will push the rims out if needed at those locations, or the rims may be pushed in until they register properly. The back strip can now be trimmed to the proper length to push either block out to the needed position or again be a stop to push the block into. As the back strip is now working against a brace which is registered on its pockets, both blocks can be controlled independently of eachother. The biggest challenge I think for most will be gluing on the back without making a mess with the glue inside the guitar. That is why so many put the top on last, because you only see the mess with a mirror.

It is also worth noting that I have not established any of my neck geometry at this point.I do not even rout my dovetail until the box is closed.