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I am repairing an old Gibson and just did my first neck re-set. I have built a few with a mortice and tenon joint, so this is also the first time I have worked on a dovetail

I have seen videos of the Martin Guitar factory where the techs fit this joint in 2-3 minutes (CAD cut joints), but this took me every bit of 5 hours to fart around with. I didn’t know what I was getting into when I decided to take pictures of this whole repair, so please forgive this bloated set of shots - you may have seen some before - but if you start near the end, where the guitar has a set of “spool clamps” holding the new back on, you can avoid much of the agony.

With Flikr, click on any shot and you get the text, too.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/ruby1638/ ... 344222304/

All that is left is finish and assembly

Happy Thanksgiving

Ed

Hey, Ed,
That's an ambitious save, but it looks like you're doing an excellent job on it. Those dovetail joints are tough for me, too. Thanks for the link to your documentary photos.
Patrick

BRAVO, ED! You are doing a spectacular job, and kudos on your super in-depth photo documentation.

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"Act your age, not your shoe size" - Prince

Really nice work Ed - very well done!!

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Ann Arbor Guitars

Excellent!
Dovetails get easier after the 400th, or if you are building with them, good jigs and 200th.

Thanks all

I have never been very good at little fiddly tasks until I took up guitars. It is a curse that I know what it SHOULD look like, but a lot of fun trying to make it look that way.

Ed

Wow that's more work then building a new guitar!

Looks like a fine job to me. Dovetails can be an exercise in the status of your your mental health that's for sure. Fortunately mistakes can be shimmed up.