Official Luthiers Forum!

i had every intention of using a bolt on mortise and tenon for the neck to body joint, but going back and checking the thickness of the head block im only showing about 1.125". i believe i followed the plans that hank mauel uses for his head block, but i couldnt find the page to confirm those are the numbers he shows. anyone have a link to that page?

im thinking that 1.125" may not be thick enough to cut a mortise and still leave enough meat behind. any comments on that? im fine with a bolt on butt joint and i know that plenty of people use one. i am a bit concerned that there is not a lot of meat left in the heal of the neck to hold threaded inserts or hanger bolts. should i go with a mortise and "shorter" tenon to beef up that area of the heal?

any advice appreciated.

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sweat the small stuff.

I support the butt joint. They can be done successfully, leaving enough meat after the inserts or hanger bolts - there's lots of them out there....and they really make setting the neck angle a lot easier.

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David White, Toronto

"All my favourite singers can't sing."

You could go with a short tenon, say 1/4". Gives a little more meat for the inserts.
But nothing wrong with a butt joint, as David said.

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Horton, MI

I have always patterned my neck blocks the same as stewmacs. They are 3-3/4" x 2-3/4" x 15/16" or 1".

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

thanks so much for the replies guys. i am thinking of using a shorter tenon as kirt suggested. makes sense to me. it seems like taking much more than a 1/2" out of the head block would weaken it too badly. still looking for that link to hank mauel's neck block...

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sweat the small stuff.

Any kind of tenon will help resist a sideways blow. Other than that, it isn't needed.

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Howard Klepper
http://www.klepperguitars.com

When all else fails, clean the shop.

What Howard said !!!

If you have very soft heel wood you can insert a hardwood dowel for the inserts to thread into.
Put the dowel in from f.b. to heel -drill a hole -glue in the dowel!
It may give ya some piece of mind.
Mike

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Mike Collins

Why not just add a couple of small dowels? to help resist a sideways blow? No real difficult mating the 2 pieces the drill press would do it

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Formerly JJH

I learn more from my mistakes than my successes

How long is your tenon right now? Your head block will only be used as a washer in that small area and should be ok.It's glued in, so it's not going to move any.Your mortice is bridged on the bottom all the way across for support also.I don't see a problem with what you have.