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Good morning gents. I'm building Uke kit that I received for Christmas. I was just about to start pore filling with ZPoxy, and realized that I have a nice little gap at the neck to body joint. Is this something that I can just fill with mahogany dust and CA? What would be the proper way? Here's a pic of the gap:



Thanks!

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Jason McGowan
M&S Guitars
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United States of America, looks like another silent night
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Have you glued the neck on yet? What type of neck joint does it have? I'm guessing just a dowel that goes into the heel and the heel block. What you want to do is "floss" the neck joint until it is tight. I use coarse sandpaper with packing take on the back (to make it slick). Put the slick side against the body (rough side against the endgrain of the neck heel). Hold the heel lightly against the body and draw the paper out. This will slowly sand the neck to fit the body with no gap. you need to be careful thought because taking more off one side or the other will cause the neck to yaw away from the center-line. You can also change the neck angel if you are not careful (sanding the bottom of the joint more than the top will pitch the neck back and the opposite will pitch it forward). These are actually good things because it allows you to line everything up just the way you want but you have to be careful and monitor your progress. Once you have a nice tight fit and all the angles correct, glue it up.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

What kind of neck joint does it have? Spanish heel, bolt-on, simple glue joint

Make sure that the center-line of the neck is lined up with the center-line of the body.

If you decide to start over, consider "flossing the neck-joint. Probably something on youtube and for sure on Kathy Matsishita's website.

Bob

Bryan has it covered.

If the joint has been glued I would slide depending on the width a mahogany shaving or veneer with a wedge in it an HHG into the gap. If you did it correctly the wedge will fill the gap and later on hhg glue smears can be cleaned with hot water. Any anomalies , can be later filled with water thin ca and mahogany dust. I would stain the mahogany a vy dark brown before finishing to conceal the error.

If it has already been glued, first consider taking it apart and redoing it all. Depending on the joi t and glue used, reversal might be problematic though.

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Bryan Bear PMoMC

Take care of your feet, and your feet will take care of you.

Question Is the gap the same all the way around ? If no , the neck angle could be slightly off as well and the strings wont line up properly to the bridge . If its the same , follow Bryans suggestion and Floss it a bit

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It's already glued unfortunately, and its just a butt joint with 2 small dowels. I had it flossed before I glued it, and it looked perfect. When I glued it though, and clamped it the way the instructions say to get the proper angle, that's when the gap showed up. Guess I should have checked it that way before I glued it. I didn't even see the gap until the next day. I've filled it with CA and dust to see how it looks. It's actually not too bad. I may leave it that way, and call it a learning experience. I'm afraid to take it apart, because I already have the fret board attached, with frets leveled perfectly, etc..

_________________
Jason McGowan
M&S Guitars
_____________________________
United States of America, looks like another silent night
As we're sung to sleep by philosophies that save the trees and kill the children....
Casting Crowns