how to get that neck on right

[tippie53]

Getting a dead true neck can be difficult. The more I built the better I became at this process. Once I have the neck pre-set I can sand the neck and top to a dead plane. I make sure my bridge geometry is correct , and having prepped the rim there is not much more than tweaking to get this correct.
This board was trued and an 8" piece of 80 grit sandpaper attached. I then lightly sand the lower 3rd of the neck on to the top so the plane is dead true.

[watergunn]

I will try it on the build I am doing now.

Thanks for the tip.

Rick Gunn

[Luke The Drifter]

Thanks John, much appreciated!

[tippie53]

time for a neck refresher

[Mitch]

I make sure my bridge geometry is correct… I then lightly sand the lower 3rd of the neck on to the top so the plane is dead true

My first thought was that If you just sand the lower third of the neck, the geometry would change, and the neck would no longer be flat. So the emphasis must be on "lightly"? Or is the primary goal to flatten the soundboard to accommodate the fretboard extension?

Also without the fretboard attached, what's the criteria for the correct neck/bridge geometry?

Mitch

[tippie53]

the lower third of the neck is pretty stiff. I am riding the board and most of the sanding is on the top. The kit is to get this plane as flat and true as possible. The board only has sand paper on the lower part.
when you are all done you want to have 3/8 inch off the fret plane at the top at the point where the saddle is. This should set you up so there is about 1/16 to 1/8 in off the top of the bridge. The top will distort as the load of the strings applies the load. It is hard to say for sure but often the top rises under an 1/8 in. Plan for that.

[phavriluk]

Okay, I'm getting lost in terminology and my own ambiguity over what I'm reading: "when you are all done you want to have 3/8 inch off the fret plane at the top at the point where the saddle is". My ambiguity is what is meant by 'fret plane', the neck surface where the fretboard joins the neck, the top of the fretboard, or the top of the fretwires?

Thanks!

[wa3jpg]

Ah, I'm such a novice! I didn't know that the very "top" of the neck (dovetail joint area - what is the name of this part?) must be flush with the top of the guitar, not flush to the bottom of the guitar top and glued underneath it. I guess I need to look at more photos before I proceed, nearly made a grand error .

SO... as I prepare to glue in the bottom block and the neck block (gluing up to the sides in a mold, its a Martin IRW kit), I need to think about leaving enough of the top of the neck dovetail piece to glue into the joint so that it's surface will be flush with the guitar top itself (but then, I need not worry too much until I am to put the neck in and sand / shim to get the right angle and fit, right?)

Now, when glued in, the neck block should be proud on top and bottom by a little to allow for the arc of the top/bottom shape (bottom more than top?)

When gluing in the neck to the neckblock, the neckblock will, indeed, be flush up against the bottom side of the guitar top for gluing. The fingerboard then goes over both that dovetail part of the neck and the top, but the rest of the neckblock is underneath the guitar top. Is this right? I just want a picture in my head. I'll search the internet for more photos of neckblocks, too, and neck resets, maybe I'll get some good idea of how it goes.

I'm taking a woodcraft course in a couple weeks, so I'm not proceeding much on my own kit till I build that one and learn a bit more about tools and geometry. Thanks for any help you can offer.

Clark

[wa3jpg]

Ah, from some of Frank Ford's photos I see that, yes, the top of the dovetail from the neck fits flush with the top of the guitar, fingerboard over top of both there at the joint. The neckblock is then glued in underneath the top. Therefore, I need to allow the neckblock to be proud of the sides only enough to get the radius of the arc about right for gluing the top onto it. The dovetail part of the neck sits up a bit from that neckblock to that it is flush with the top, underneath the fretboard. Hope I understand this about right (but I am slowed down now till I get a better feel for it all, I won't proceed till I "get it" .)

Clark

[tippie53]

One thing I should mention is to help get the geometry right you can also use a sanding stick with a 3/8 gap on the tail block and sweep sand the sides before the top is glue on. Take the time to get these details right and you can set up a guitar with action that is very low.