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I am getting ready to fit my neck to the guitar body, i am using jonathan kinkades book as a guide, on setting the neck angle, he says to use a wood shimm about 2.5mm thick at the bridge location the use a straight edge to the top part where the neck meets the guitar then use a sliding bevel to mock that edge, i am using a m/t joint, my question is has anybody used this method and will it work good for me as this is my first guitar?

no answers huh, well i guess it would be better to ask how do you guys set your neck angle?

Patience!

That method will work assuming you're using a dome of about a 28 - 30 ft radius.

What I prefer to do, rather than correcting for the arc under the fretboard after the top is on, is to make the top north of the soundhole flat, using a flat upper transverse brace instead of a radiused one. After sanding the dome onto the sides for the top's radius (with linings on), use his method to sand the sides flat north of the soundhole. That way, you'll have a flat surface to glue the fretboard onto. Search for a fine tutorial that Hesh did on the subject. I think maybe Terence Kennedy does something similar.

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I dry fit my neck and run a straight edge along the centreline of the fret board to where the saddle should be. The height here should be about 1/16th of an inch higher then your bridge with a fretted neck or 1/16th + fret crown height on a non fretted neck (which is the way I do it). This is Cumpiano's method and it has never failed me yet.

Here is the deal in a nut shell you want the neck angle/bridge height relationship to end up rendering a finished saddle height that is structurally reasonable. The taller the saddle height the greater the rotational load on the front edge of the saddle slot. Many builders set the angle so that the fretted height plane is flush with the top of the bridge (at the front of the bridge with the bridge in proper position). Others set the unfretted plane flush to the top of the bridge. The difference between the two methods is typically .030-.039" of saddle height for guitar med fret wire. This is not terribly significant additional saddle height. Now .125” of additional saddle height is significant.

My point being It does not matter what method you use to measure the plane as long as you get a good fretboard plane/ bridge height relationship that produces a saddle that is not overly tall. The method of measuring to get there is just semantics. The principle of why you are doing it is the keynote.