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I'm a lover of accousic guitars, have been since childhood. The first non-plywood one I have owned is my Taylor 310 made in June '01 and purchased by me at a guitar store one month later. The Sitka spruce top even has bear claw.
I was most impressed with the fretboard's full length integrity with the neck and how Taylor accomplishes it. Was this impressive to you long time luthiers? Has the neck to body joint and finger board problems at the 14th fret been the toughest issue of building a fine instrument?

14th or 12th(body joint) is a problem area if not addressed when making a guitar.

Taylor has made that area of compression(neck being pulled into the body by string tension) less of a concern with their CNC machines and the through neck & F.B. as they do now.

I've seen many old guitars with a rise at the body joint of 2mm and more with bad care /or construction .
I go to great trouble to flex the neck before fretting and getting a measurement of the amount rise from the neck to the s.h.-because that area does NOT move when you put aload on the neck.
Then I check after fretting to see if my work(guess) was correct.

So far -so good !

I full neck & f.b. joint that is inlayed so to speak into the top is a great idea.
Steve Klien has done that for years.

Get his video and he explains the neck joint .

Mc

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Mike Collins

As most round here will know, I fit my FB onto a continuation of the neck, never have a problem with the FB hump, it never moves.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Colin, that is pretty slick! I inagine most folks don't do that because of the work involved during neck construction. Idea is SOLID!

Dave

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God, Family, Carreer

Colin, that is some very impressive work. When I get up the courage to move up from electric construction to accoustic I want to do that type of joint. Your work encourages me.

Colin that is really slick.It should be on the tutorial page.
james

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James W Bolan
Nashville Tennessee

Hey Colin, does the fingerboard extension float or is it attached somehow?

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Tickle your guitar daily, and it'll tickle you back.

John, the FB extension of the neck is a continuous piece from the neck wood, the neck itself is just bolted on with the two neck bolts in the usual manner, the extension/FB are not bolted. There are a couple of threads with my neck/neck block construction on the system. It does mean that the neck can be taken off very easily with just the two bolts.

http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=19290&p=271512&hilit=neck+extension#p271512

http://luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10101&t=19044&hilit=Cuban+mahogany

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Over time , the fretboard issue may rear its head. In most cases it is handled but tapering the fret board extension upon a reset. I control that but setting up the geometry of the neck angle and mating angle on the side. http://bluescreekguitars.com/blog/ . I am a traditionalist builder and use the neck block. I can agree that bolt on necks work and have proved themselves . There is more than 1 way to do things.

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it