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i was wondering why most guitars have a tailblock dimension taller than the neck block dimension.
Is it for sound, or looks, or what?

Look and feel. At least, that's why I go along with the convention

Since the real feel of the depth is based on the depth at the waist/shoulder against your chest, tapering head to tail is sort of the same thing as a Manzer wedge, just in the other axis. It also just looks more natural, with the whole thing being generally triangular when viewed from the front, with the wide lower bout, skinnier shoulders, and skinnier yet headstock. Another reason I like triangular-ish headstocks, to continue the shape all the way to the peak

There is one builder I know of, Stephen Sheriff/Edwinson Guitars, who does coplanar top/back, and says it sounds better. Does seem believable, than the plates could activate eachother more easily pushing the air directly up and down. But probably not that big a difference, and isn't worth the look/feel sacrifice for me to bother trying it. I love Manzer wedge.

I was looking at a "Kona" style lap steel square neck I'm making,
and used some 3 1/2" sides I had laying around,
and upon looking at it hanging up there,
I thought it would look better if it tapered.
I didn't taper because I wanted as much volume in da body,
and I was limited with the sides I had already milled, a while ago, for ?
Thanks, Dennis.

It's about playability, ever try playing a guitar that has the neck sticking 4 - 4-1/2' out versus 3-1/2+/- it makes a big difference in playability. A friend of mine made a guitar that was 4-5/8' at both the tail and neck and it was very difficult to play...

The lap steel sits on the lap which makes sense for the body to be full depth all the way...

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I think it has everything to do with comfort level... imagine playing a guitar where the box is too big...

I am actually thinking of doing a variation of the Manzer wedge... it doesn't look difficult but I don't know.

It might make it sound less loud due to lower internal volume, but it could make the guitar a lot more comfortable to play.

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