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I need help figuring this out, this is my first guitar from scratch, and being how over the weekend i tried figuring it out myself and just confused myself more! Ok

I want to do a raised "cantilevered" fingerboard. I read there are a couple ways to do this, so i opted for trimming my sides at the top down so i wouldnt have to mess with the angles and bridges and things of that nature. But in doing so my trust rod would essentially pop out of the guitar or be right on the body, How can i accomodate for this?!

Here is what I know about cantilevered necks. If you are going to do one, you need to have support for the tongue of the fingerboard. Archtops do this with a considerable size piece of matching neck material. Some other builders (Batson) insert a piece of steel into the bottom of the fingerboard. However you go about it, you must support it other wise it will be flemsy. If you go with the wooded support, the truss rod can extend into this material- as long as the wood is thick enough to support it. If you go with a support system that is not thick enough to support a truss rod, you need to have the rod come out the headstock rather than the heel. Hope this helps.

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I did a slot through the extension, it still ends at the heel block, so it needs a long allen wrench. I don't think it looks bad at all and much prefer it to putting it up top and using a truss rod cover.

I did this on the 2 guitars I made and agree with you, it is a simpler system to get right, body geometry has no play in getting it to work right, neck angle is the only thing.

I found the Benedetto book helpful for the neck, essentially you are now making an arch top neck.
Rob

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