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Ok, here it is. Brock probably did a better job explaining it than my stupid pics will. But I'll try nonetheless.





Here's the jig. The neck clamps into the registration pins (truss rod channel) which are perfectly vertical to the template. The plate that the neck is clamped to is hindged to move in reference to the plane that the template is on.



These two holes represent the distance from the neck end of the body to the saddle position of the bridge. One for 12 fret guitars one for 14 fret guitars. In the lower hole is rounded over bolt with two locking nuts. This sets my depth. (see next photo for less confusion)



When setting the distance of the bolt, I wanted to project the plane of the neck with a fingerboard and frets. I knew that I wanted this projection to fall right at 3/8" at the bridge location (that's the height of my bridge). So then I subtracted the depth of the fingerboard and frets which left me with .080". This is how far out I wanted my little bolt spacer. So, with the heal flat on the base and the bar flush against the top at the neck joint, I adjust the throw of the bar until the bolt spacer just touches the top. Lock it down and that is the perfect neck angle for this particular guitar.

Paul, that is a very clever jig! Nice stack of wood ya got there on that shelf behind it! Do you have a basement shop?

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Good looking guitar. Is that going to Healdsburg?

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Lance, it's half of a 2 car garage. Totally climate controlled. Though way too small 11x24, it works great for me.
Brock, I doubt this one will make it to Healdsburg. Binding sucks on it so I'm going to have to do some thinkin' to figure out what to do next. (Got any more madrose I can cut up into binding?)

I hear ya paul, my shop is 12X22, in the basement, I keep trying to talk my wife into letting me have the 10x10 storage room thats attached to my shop! Maybe someday

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Paul...thanks for the pics...very clever. I believe I can modify my existing jig to incorporate the idea. Since you've gone to this setup, how much tweaking time have you saved?

This has been a great thread...possibly even worthy of a special archive location. I sure have learned a lot.

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Thanks Paul, between the pictures and Brocks description I now understand what you are doing. Looks like a very good jig to me. I agree with JJ, I've learned a lot from this thread.

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Don Atwood
Arlington, VA

JJ, about a ba-zillion hours! i can't even imagine how much time I've saved. This is no exaggeration, I litterally have about 10 pulls of paper on each cheek and 5 at the heal cap and it's done. More importantly, it's done right. Neck angle is spot on, string alignment is spot on. If I were you, I'd invest some time into making this and I'd be more than happy to help any way I can.
BTW: this is sort of stolen from Charles Fox (as are most of my ideas) but he had one major shortcoming with it. The metal bar on his had not adjustable bolt. He sets his tennon angle based on the fingerboard extension angle. Which is fine for a good neck fit, but what about the bridge height? I did a few with his design and came up needing about 3/4" of saddle exposed if I left it that way. This is a good system. I don't really take any credit for it, it just sort of fell in my lap.

Paul...The more I study this jig the cooler it becomes. This is worthy of a prominent place in the jigs section if you have the time to write it up. Another option might be for our resident CAD Jockey (Michael Payne) to draw it up and offer the plans for sale.

In either case, I'm definitely going to modify my existing jig. Thanks so much for sharing this idea...and I just might take you up on the offer of help if I get stranded!!!

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JJ
Napa, CA
http://www.DonohueGuitars.com

Here are some pics of the jigs I use. One is for cutting the mortise and the other the tenon. The tenon jig works kind of the same as the others shown and talked about but in the horizontal. They are fairly simple to make and get the job done.

Robbie, you must be better with a router than I because holding it horizontal like that would scare the heck out of me.

I am impressed with all of the router jigs designed to cut the tenon on the
neck. I don't know what happened with me but I cut my tenons on the table
saw. The table saw allows me to undercut the sides and cut the angle into
the sides of the neck so that the neck fits precisely into my bodies and the
fretboard is flat on the top. I guess I just like the table saw for as many
operations as I can. I think I posted the sled I used on my web site. Any
questions I am happy to answer!Sylvan38510.8573958333

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Sylvan
http://www.wellsguitars.com

I'm with you Sylvan. I do both my mortise and tenon right on the table saw and undercut the cheeks of the tenon 5 degrees or so. It helps to have your table saw well set up.

[QUOTE=Pwoolson] Robbie, you must be better with a router than I because holding it horizontal like that would scare the heck out of me.[/QUOTE]

It's not too bad Paul. However, the router does throw the dust in your face    There are many ways to get the same result though.

How about removing the heel cap (on a repair or re-set),doing the sanding, then replacing the cap?

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