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I have looked at Bill Moll's pics and comments from 2002 in the MIMF archives and the info on Stew mac for building a jig to cut mortises in the guitar body for mortise and tenon joint. Does anyone know of more resources out there that I might look at before I start building? Or any hints if you have already built one. The last one I built, I cut the mortise in the neck block before attaching the sides, and want to do the cutting on the guitar I am building after construction of the box. Thanks in advance for your help! Tom Harbin

Here is the one I use Tom. It is very simple to make and it does the trick. Check the jigs section for a neat tenon cutting jig from Paul Woolson.

Here are some photos of the jigs I built. All jigs utilize a 1/2" pattern router bit with a top mounted bearing. All cut are made with 3 passes.



This is the neck tenon cutting jig. The neck references off the truss rod slot.



Here is the mortise cutting jig clamped in place on the guitar body.




Top view of the mortise cutting jig.



Bottom view of mortise cutting jig showing the plate that sits on the top of the guitar above the soundhole and the actual mortise cutting guide slot.



Here is a fuzzy shot of the bolt hole locating jig. It slips into the mortise and has two 1/4" drill guide bushings to locate bolt holes in the end block.

Well I'll be darnned!! I have always cut the mortise before mounting the neck block. Guess I thought that was how Martin does it so it must be the right way.

Do most of you cut it after the body is finished? and any thoughts on advantages/disadvantages?

Hi Rich

Some Cut before like yourself, one advantage of doing it after is if you set the block slightly out your mortice will still be dead upright when you cut it after.RussellR38637.856099537

Tom I have built the Moll jig you referenced above and am really happy with its accuracy and versatility as it is readily adjustable for whatever body size you building.    Mine is built to be clamped to work table and I can easily remove the mortise attachment and attach my neck tenon jig. Also with the mortise attachment removed it makes a great body holder for sanding the ribs or scraping bindings.

Anthony, do you use that same jig for cutting the tail graft as well.

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Rod, I build Archtops exclusively (that don’t have end grafts) but going to try my hand at a run of 4 flattops when I get done with the current batch of Archtops. Your question has a certain irony in that I’ve been reading all the current and archived posts on end graft jigs to settle on a design – and frankly hadn’t thought of adapting this jig for cutting end grafts. That’s a great idea as I am always trying to get multiple uses out of jigs in order to save space in my shop. (I think you just helped me settle on a end graft jig design).Anthony Z38638.5083333333

I just built my jig for doing the mortise block, I slot mine before I glue it into the body, in the my mold I have a piece of UHMW that aligns the mortise and allows me to trim the sides to be fitted up against the block. One difference is that mine runs all the way through like Cumpiano's does, this makes fitting all this much easier for me, however I *REALLY* like hanks jig for drilling the bolt holes and may steal that idea from him, now I shave off the thickness of the soundboard when drilling the mortise block, but his jig removes that step... Love It

I might be able to sneak some pictures tonight of the jig if I get a chance, we are starting to take things apart in preparation for the move so I might have packed it

Cheers

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

[QUOTE=Sprockett] I just built my jig for doing the fitting all this much easier for me, however I *REALLY* like hanks jig for drilling the bolt holes and may steal that idea from him, now I shave off the thickness of the soundboard when drilling the mortise block, but his jig removes that step... Love It


STOP! THIEF! STOP!

How many people are using jigs for this? I'll be the first to admit I am not a router fan. My only router is
on my router table and that's where it stays. I do the neck block mortise on my table saw before it's even glued
to the sides. I'll admit it takes a bit more work to make sure the mortise is centered before I glue it to the sides but I guess I'm used to the procedure. I also cut out the neck tenon on my table saw. Takes all of 15 minutes to cut the mortise and tenon. I'm always looking to improve my methods, can someone convince me to change my ways?

Well Paul a couple of things....

I used my table saw to do my mortise and tenons as well and it works, very well in fact, the issue comes in with repeatability and jigs have it ALL over using the table saw or by hand for a number of reasons:

1. Once setup you can get the same exact fit every single time.

2. It's hard to do an oops on a well built jig, on the table saw I had a couple that I had to scrap because I took a little too much here or there.

3. It's faster in most cases to use a jig and router.

The biggest for me is #1, if I could get my parts CNC'd within a decent price range I would because for the most part things like the mortise and tenon are just parts of the guitar. They are rarely seen and I'd rather not have to worry about them too much (other than when I design them), I realize that there is a certain amount of pride in doing it all by hand and if that's what someone wants then more power to them.

I'd rather pay to have the mundane things done (like kerfing or the mortise and tenon) and worry about other things, that's not to say I don't care about them. The fact that I designed my own system and went through revisions to get to the current model should dispell that idea pretty quickly. But my energy could be much better spent working on bracing ideas or other more crucial areas.

I think part of this is the software engineer mentality kicking in, I like to build things in small logical steps. Working out the kinks to finally build a very solid foundation of little pieces that I can then use to go in new directions. Once the foundation is solid, I don't have to concentrate on it anymore and can focus my efforts elsewhere...

That's my $.02 at least

Cheers

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

[QUOTE=HankMauel] [QUOTE=Sprockett] I just built my jig for doing the fitting all this much easier for me, however I *REALLY* like hanks jig for drilling the bolt holes and may steal that idea from him, now I shave off the thickness of the soundboard when drilling the mortise block, but his jig removes that step... Love It


STOP! THIEF! STOP!

[/QUOTE]

Man caught red handed

I guess I'll have just have to pay you off to get the rights to use that idea...

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Paul, what I guess it boils down to is that I feel more
comfortable with my table saw. It could also be that I'm
running out of space to store my jigs (1 car converted garage shop) .