No. 4 - my attempt at a mahogany/sitka folk size

[nkwak]

I hand cut the tenon yesterday and am spending the day trying to fit it in the mortise but I've got a ways to go.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Work it in slow, you'll get it

[nkwak]

I think I messed it up. I cut about 1/4" off the end of the tenon and now the neck pulls forward. I'm thinking of cutting off the bottom third (which coincides with the bottom layer of the stacked heel) and epoxying on a new piece made from the offcuts. I'd hate to have something like this ruin the whole neck. Am I thinking through this problem the wrong way?

[Kevin Sjostrand]

Neil
Is this a dovetail joint? Or are the pocket sides parallel and the "tenon" sides parallel?

[nkwak]

I did my best to make them parallel. The issue is the the tenon is shorter than the mortise. I should’ve measured again before I cut the end off. It’s also hard to check to see if the angles at the end match too.

By the way, I’m trying to think through this problem by making a casting of the mortise with clay or putty. I know that’s pretty unreliable but I’d be using wax paper to keep it from sticking.

[Kevin Sjostrand]

If you are bolting this on you are okay. Once the fretboard is attached to the neck, the tenon length won't matter. Since you are not doing a dovetail then you will need at least one bolt preferably two. Meaning you'll have put threaded inserts into your tenon to accept the bolts coming from inside the body. Or you can insert bolt studs into the tenon and the attach with nuts and washers on the inside. Make sense?

[nkwak]

No, I want to still do a dovetail. I just want to add back additional material that I cut off.

[Stray Feathers]

I recently heard an experienced luthier speak, named Fabrizio Alberico, and his guitars have dovetail joints, but he also bolts the dovetail joints, sort of a hybrid approach:

https://www.albericoguitar.com

But another thought: You can also glue an extension to your dovetail to give you the length you need. It's widely accepted the glue joint, if well done, is stronger than the wood. Alternatively, you could cut the existing dovetail off, and glue a new one to the neck, and use a spline, or mortise and tenon join to the neck, to strengthen the joint. On my old Yamaki I was refurbishing, I created a mortise and tenon joint on the neck, which was originally glued flat to the body with dowels. Bruce W.

[tippie53]

bolting a dovetail is working against the joint.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNcbA1P95KE
if you study the dovetail joint the working faces are the heel of the neck and the face of the tenon. A bolt is actually working against that joint , so anyone using a bolt doesn't understand the way it work. The joint is the mechanical connection. It executed well it won't need help