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Hi there -

Working on the neck installation on my 14-fret OM, and have a question. Let me preface this with - I have watched John Hall's videos and spoken to him over the phone, and I am now very very close, thanks to him! But I don't want to abuse the privilege, and perhaps someone else will have this same question.

Now... I have the neck so that it is sitting in the pocket (dovetail). The Set angle is right (straight edge off fretted fingerboard is just kissing the top of the bridge), and side-to-side centering appears OK. The joint is reasonably tight, i can pop it out with a sharp rap to the heel cap.

That said, there is about 1/64-ish gap all the way around the heel-to-body surface, almost as though there is something on the inside of the joint holding it up from sitting flush. The gap is a bit much to floss-sand, I can stick the paper in all the way around with no friction. I have been using colored chalk in the pocket to get myself this close, but at this point, whatever is holding me off is so minute that I don't think I can register it with the chalk.

What can I do to either find what's holding it off, or draw the cheeks tighter to the sides?

Thanks!

Adam

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"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano

Hi Adam!

Try this toot even though it's a bolt on the part where we floss the neck is where you are and what is holding the neck off your body is the material close to the dovetail. You wanna relieve the excess material in that area so that the flossing is effective.

Here is a pic of the area that you want to relieve even with a dovetail.



And here is a toot that if you go to the part about flossing it will be relevant to where you are now: viewtopic.php?f=10102&t=15022%22

I hope this helps

Have you undercut the neck so that it can go up flush against the body...?

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Hesh beat me to in....! This is also what I meant...!

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Great minds Tom, great minds...

Haha yes guys, I did undercut the neck, leaving about 1/8" or so rim all the way around. That's how i shanked my finger with the chisel a month or so ago hehe

But, that is worth checking, perhaps there is a part that didn't get done. I'll check that and report back. Also, let me check that toot Hesh.

Thanks guys, I'll be back in a few!

adam

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"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano

Is there a chance your tenon is bottoming out in the mortise? Not likely but possible I guess.

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Formerly known as Adaboy.......

Is the neck contact area of the rim flat, if it is at the normal radius the neck heel won't seat flat, take a thin feeler gauge ( thinner the better) and slip it into the gap it will go all the way to the dove tail except where it is touching and holding the heel away from the rim. That should give you the answer you need.

Fred

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Fred Tellier
http://www.fetellierguitars.com
Facebook page http://www.facebook.com/pages/FE-Tellier-Guitars/163451547003866

Here is what you may have , did you flatten the area of the heel joint where it touches the body ? This area is arched and your neck heel cheek is flat . You put the neck into the block , take a pencil and scripe the heel mate on the cheeks . Take a flat sanding block and work this area till the pencil line is gone , Check that the area flattened out then recheck to see that now you are mating 2 flat surfaces .
john

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

Well, i think i am on to something, and there was also a small amount of the relief valley that needed to go deeper. It appears that the heelcap was too tight against the body, so as I went down, it wasn't allowing the rest of the face to seat.. as I sanded that back, it looks like my gap is now about 1/64" or less so I am on the right track.

Seems as I go, the joint is loosening up a bit.

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"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano

I'll check that also, John. Thanks!

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"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano

Yeah, when you can't get it to set down flat the 3 things to check are flat sides at the contact point, that the neck is relieved near the tenon, and that the heelcap isn't holding you up.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Think its pretty close now, I'll fine tune it some more tomorrow. Looks like all 3 things you mentioned were in play Brock, thanks so much guys!

Now, what to do about the joint being loosened now? I guess as I have floss-sanded etc, it has moved the neck minutely closer to the bridge, which i imagine brings the contact points of the dovetail apart. I don't think any more can come off the dovetail, do I need to put a shim in there somewhere?

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"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano

Did better than that, I found a charcoal artists pencil and used that.. amazing how clear it transfers, and its not all dusty like chalk. This seemed to do the trick where chalk wasn't cutting it before for some reason.

More for my bag of tricks, thanks guys!!

adam

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"Everyone wants to BE something, but nobody wants to BECOME something" - William Cumpiano