Neck Block Radius?

[ccospito]

Hi,

I am building my first guitar. Its a mahogany D-18. I was wondering if anyone has noticed that there is a slight radius on the surface of the neck block that glues up to the rim. Has anyone noticed this before?

I didn't realize this until I was trying to dry fit the neck block and saw that it was not perfectly flat. I then sanded it flat, but now I am wondering if that slight radius was intentional.

I have been following Bill Cory's Building a Martin Style Kit Guitar Manual but I didn't see it mentioned in there regarding a radius in either the neck or heal blocks.

Any thoughts? Do I need a new neck block now that its flat?

Thanks

[Diane Kauffmds]

The kerfing on the top and back are radiused to the radius specs for the particular guitar being built, ie. the back will have a 15' radius and the top 28' radius, if the guitar is made to Martin specs. When radiusing the sides, the neck block and tail block will have a bit of a radius on them as well. So you're fine.

[ccospito]

Hey thanks for the response.

I wasn't referring to the radius of the top and back of the guitar. I was referring to the flat surface of the dove tail joint on the neck block that gets glued to the inside of the rim. Mine had a slight curve to it so that it did not sit perfectly flush against the inside of the rim. I sanded it flush so I could get a good glue joint. Is that typical for the dovetail joint to have a slight radius in it?

Thanks

[tippie53]

there is indeed a radius on the neck block. If you look at my you tube neck set addendum video I address this when we talk about flattening the neck block at the heel for a neater fit.
you want the curve to mate with the mold so no need for a flat block your good to go.

[ccospito]

There we go. I found it at the 11ish minute mark. Thanks