Should be able to just reposition the dovetail template further into the jig, resulting in a shorter, slightly narrower tail. Also - ply templates can be easily repaired with epoxy/wood dust or with CA and baking soda...larger repairs benefit from some type of reinforcement...cotton flox works.

For those making their own jigs from the Woolson plans, Luthiers Tools makes two dovetail templates...one for deeper necks such as the D and J-xx bodies and one for the shallower neck found on 0000, 000, etc. Superior to the SM templates and not much more expensive.

Hi John,
Shouldn't be too hard to drill a couple more sets of mounting holes in the top of the jig so that your templates become more adjustable. It looks like there'd be room to do that and it would be less work than making another template.

Cal

Have you talked to Jon Simpson???

I received my Simpson jig a month or so ago. It works perfectly as advertised. It really takes a nerve wracking job and makes it easy and accurate. I also picked up his brace radiusing jig it too works as advertised and is more accurate than trying to radius on a radius plate. I've also used the jig that clamps the brace into a forced bend and then run across a joiner or an abrasive planer. While the latter works well it's a pain to set up.

I'm glad I read this post because I will be cutting a mortice and tendon on a Ditson grand concert shortly and had not anticipated this problem. I'm sure I would have spotted the problem when I went to do the job. On the Ditson plans I've looked at the body depth varies from plan to plan but all require a shorter tendon. I guess I'll have to shim out the neck to shorten the tendon. Shouldn't take but a few minutes to build the spacer. It sure beats the old way of cutting the tendon on the table saw.

I was beginning to think it was only me - let me know how you get on and I will let you know when I have made my modifications and run some tests. I made my own radius jig a few weeks ago, I can't remember where I got the details from. I didn't know about Jon's radius jig - I'll post a picture of mine later today.

Regards

John

This is the brace jig I made 15 & 28 degrees - seems to do the job OK, is this the same as your brace Jig ?

You jig is similar to my old jig where you force a bend in the brace and then level and when it springs back you have your arc. Nothing wrong with that design I've used it for years.

The Simpson brace jig requires a flush cut bearing bit that follows a pattern. It can be used with a table mounted router using a pattern bit with the bearing under the cutting surface. I have an over-arm router so I use a flush cut bit with the cutter above the bearing. His pattern board has two faces one with a 15 foot and the other with a 25 foot radius. He can make the pattern what ever radius you want. *

*I hope I'm not talking out of class. My apologies Jon if that last sentence isn't true.

Hi Bert

I would be interested in seeing that, I started out trying to make braces on my router table but it just tore them to pieces.

John

If I understand you correctly it should be an easy task to adapt it to an adjustable StewMac template. Just drill 4 hole and use knockdown furniture or pan head bolts. You can either drill through the top plate and use wingnuts on the underside or see if the ply will hold a thread or use brass inserts. I'd probably also scribe a centerline on the template and maybe another at a 90 for the top of the neck, might make setup a bit faster. Here's a picture of the SM template over the top and you can see there's plenty of clear space for the bolts to go. That's a future adjustment I'll be making to mine even though I haven't the need for it now. You could also cut the template down to the same size of the table and put side rails on it to keep the template square but I think the scribe line would eliminate the need for that.
And then if you don't want it to be adjustable and have a set length in mind you can just set the template and clamp it in place and then drill some new dowel pin hole and set it with pins like the original.
You will also have to slot the template for the bar too.

You might be better off to just go with a mortice and tennon and forget about the dovetail in more ways then one.
It shouldn't be that hard to make the template. You can trace the mortice template to copy and match the dovetail shape an adjust the length to what you need. Use a scroll saw to ruff cut the template out and finish up with a file or whatever. Or use a router Inlay Kit to make your own.
http://www.woodcraft.com/Catalog/Produc ... 4d343cf390