www.KitGuitarsForum.com

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

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.

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

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.

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