Official Luthiers Forum!

I've done this with varying degrees of success before, but I wanted to see what you guys find most effective (besides getting it perfect the first time). I need to swing the headstock to the right in order to get my centerline perfect from the nut to the bottom of the body.

The fingerboard extension is glued on. There is no heel cap attached yet (if it matters).

The tendon has been adjusted a little so that there is room to make the adjustment if I pull it over (of course it doesn't stay).

I know I need to adjust the right shoulder of the heel to let it fall over that way.

Ive seen some pull it over where it needs to be, then measure the gap on the other side, mark that on the side that needs to be taken down and then cut or sand to that line.

1- what is your preferred method for this type of adjustment? Chisel? Sand? Floss?
2- how do you keep the place where the heel cap goes flat after one side has been cut down? (hope that's not a confusing question).

Thanks guys.

Flossing the neck is the way to center the neck but you will have to take the fingerboard extension loose from the top.

Same here, flossing. I have that plexi center finder jig which makes it easy to monitor progress. For the cap, I floss it too afterward or put it on first and floss the whole thing at once.

_________________
Insta - https://www.instagram.com/cbcguitars/
Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/cbcguitars

As far as the bottom of the guitar , if your within an 1/8 of an inch your ok the rosette is the critical area as that will pop out at you .
So if your fretboard is on that is the goal line it up with the rosette.

here are a few things to thing about when your settin up the guitar in the mold
A is the mold mortise centered to the block? In most cases it is off a touch so take the heel of the neck to mark the outside center line,
B put in some type of fretboard fixturing , IE small nail or anything to give you a secure way to locate the fretboard on the neck
C when setting the neck watch what is moving where and just observe. Dovetails I will set one tenon as location the other as the locking face.
We will be shooting more video in a few weeks and we hope to have time to address this point
There are 2 ways to move the neck one by manipulating the tenon the other by working the cheeks One is a side to side movement the other a swing so understand that and use that in your favor as not every neck is the same,
Lastly if the heel at the back looks off you can move the spine on the heel and reshape that to make it appear perfect as you will never see that with all the geometry of the heel

_________________
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

John... it’s probably a tad more than 1/8 at the bottom off center. And yes it is noticeable on the rosette.

For some reason I just can’t get that side to drop quite enough.

Now that I think about it... it could be the back of the heel that is keeping it from falling where it needs to go.

I’ve flossed some / sanded a bit but I haven’t then leveled the back of the heel ... here’s an exaggerated picture to show what I mean
It obviously needs to be leveled corner to corner



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Good sharp chisel on the heelcap, or very careful localized flossing...

And watch your tenon isn't bottoming out in the mortice

_________________
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.

Like Colin said - if the tenon is hitting the bottom of the mortice then you just don’t have the freedom of movement to get the cheeks flossed right. I learned this lesson the hard way flossing again and again at the cheeks and being puzzled why the side-to-side angle didn’t shift.

Yup, same experience. Twice (slow learner!)
Can start out with what seems plenty of clearance, but it can also disappear quickly.
I also have learned to taper my tenon a little while leaving it a good fit to locate the neck where it enters the mortice - if it fits quite tight all the way to it's end, it can/will stop the neck swinging to allow the heel cheeks to sit properly against the upper bout.

_________________
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 did get it to swing over to where it needed to be. And yes part of the issue was the tenon. One day I’ll cut one perfectly that just fits... but it was not this day.
From the flossing my heel cap area doesn’t EXACTLY sit flush, however I’ve not put a cap on yet... so that should cover easily.

Thanks for all the suggestions and advise


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk