Official Luthiers Forum!

Here's something that has been a big help to me.

When fitting to a curved upper bout and/or changing the alignment of a neck that is a bit off the center line a guy often wants to floss the entire heel evenly. You can tape sandpaper to the guitar and move the neck on it but the neck is never in exactly the position it will be in when attached. That method has never worked for me very well. You can foss without a fretboard attached but the neck moves around and it's clumsy for me. if you floss with the fretboard clamped on it's tough to get an even stroke on the upper end of the heel

If you cut slots in a surrogate fretboard that keys off the truss rod slot and is clamped onto the neck you can floss one side of the heel evenly with the neck held in exactly the position it will be on the guitar. This has been a big help for me with initial fit to the body and any centerline adjustment that has to be made.

Also works for deceasing the angle of an overset neck.

The heel is undercut so you are only flossing 3/32-1/8" of wood on the edge that bears against the body.. Once all is good, fine tune the length and place the heelcap.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Excellent tip.

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The name catgut is confusing. There are two explanations for the mix up.

Catgut is an abbreviation of the word cattle gut. Gut strings are made from sheep or goat intestines, in the past even from horse, mule or donkey intestines.

Otherwise it could be from the word kitgut or kitstring. Kit meant fiddle, not kitten.

I like it, thanks for the tip

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Rian Gitar og Mandolin

I really like that !!! Thanks
Brent

good one

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Nice jig Terry, might even extend it out to the bridge.

Simple, clever, brilliant! Thanks for sharing.

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George :-)

I agree. It's a great idea. Every time I see something like this I slap my forehead and think to myself: "Why didn't I think of that?"
Patrick

Ditto, great idea and thanks for sharing!

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Michael Lloyd

“I was born to ignorance, yes, and lesser poverties ...
I was born to privilege that I did not see ... I didn’t know it, but my way was paved” – John Gorka

Nice. I like it.
L.

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Cut to size.....Beat to fit.....Paint to match.

Thanks all. I've been building since 1998 and this idea just hit me recently while I was setting a neck. It's been a huge time saver. Like Patrick said, it was one of those "why didn't I think of this sooner" moments.

Haans I do have a long centerline finder that keys into the truss rod slot. I bought a centerline finder from Tracy when he first made them at Luthier Suppliers ( http://www.luthiersuppliers.com/products/p9.html ) and there was a defect and he sent me another. I set up the first with pins to use as an alignment tool that used the truss rod slot.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

Terence: Super tip......................!!!
Tom

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A person who has never made a mistake has never made anything!!!

Terrence i am going to use this idea vy clever and thank you. .Heel sanding is such a pita

That's a great idea

Good idea, Thanks!

Looks like that will work for dovetails too.
Need to get some more plexi...
Thanks, Terry!

Terence, that's much the same as I do. I use the same method to locate the bridge (I'll try to remember to take photo tonight). But the idea of cutting out slots on the side to floss the neck joint without having to take the acrylic on and off is the sort of small detail that gets me excited. thanks

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Great ideas! Thanks, Terence!

Pat

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formerly known around here as burbank
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http://www.patfosterguitars.com

I feel compelled to add some advise to anyone who is going to make something similar. I used 9mm acrylic I found, cut to width on table saw and centre line scored with a marking gauge. What had me baffled for a time was that if you put the acrylic in place with pins in the truss rod slot and check the centre line reading then turn the acrylic over and check again, you get different readings.
Now I always make sure that the line I made with the marking gauge is facing down. Otherwise, because of the 9mm thickness of the acrylic, if the line was on top you could only accurately read it if you looked directly down onto it.
Hope this makes sense.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Joe, The term for that is parallax error. That is common whenever the measured piece sits away from the measuring tool. Real common with optical measurement and kinda like looking at something with just one eye and then switching to the other eye.
If you scribe a line on both sides of the acrylic it makes it easier to make sure you are on target.

Good to know, thanks Tim.
For a while I did wonder if either my straight edge was off or my technique with the marking gauge need some improvement.

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We are all in the gutter but some of us are looking at guitars.

Brilliant !!!


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"After forty-nine years of violin building, I have decided that the search for a varnish is similar to the fox hunt. The fun is in the hunt."
Jack Batts Maker and Repairer of Fine Violins

Glad you found the thread hutch !!

Ha, I was fitting a neck yesterday and trying to think of a way to make things easier at the fretboard side of the heel. This looks simple and perfect for the job.

What do you do if the fretboard doesn't go on dead center?