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I am building a OLF small jumbo, my first build. Should the neck block paddle touch the upper transverse brace? the plans show about 1/8" gap. Wouldn't it be stronger if the paddle were glued to the UTB? I know it's end grain mahogany being glued to the spruce brace. I'm hoping to glue the top braces tomorrow and right now I have 1/16 measured gap between the paddle and the brace, I could move the UTB 1/16 forward to touch the paddle or I can trin the paddle to leave the 1/8 gap as drawn. Thanks for your help Rob

I make a firm connection between them. The thought being that the UTB can help shoulder some of the rotational force.

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

I do the same as Brock. Just seems like the right thing to do.
I think you need to make it tight & glue it, or leave a decent sized gap. You might get a buzz (of some sort) if they were touching but not firmly glued together. Maybe I'm just paranoid...
On my last guitar, I glued the UTB into the linings & to the end of the "paddle", shaped the paddle & brace together, to get the FB extension angle I wanted & then glued the top onto the rim set & UTB.
Don't know if I'll keep doing it that way, but it worked well. I did it that way because with the deep cutaway, I had to angle the UTB. It seemed easier to get it right putting the brace in first.
I was thinking, it might be a good idea to glue a couple of wooden pins through the UTB into the paddle. End grain glue joints are prone to failure.