Official Luthiers Forum!

Hello to all..

i just built a jig to use with my dovetail templates that i bought and my question is this..
How do you deal with the depth of your cut on the neck dovetail , when the template is thin and your minimum cut is longer than you want?

do you make a second template to increase the thickness or do you lower the neck creating a gap between the neck and the template?

i think the second option may cause problems centering the neck…

Here is how I deal with that: my jig centers the neck by using pins that fit into the truss rod slot. I can move the neck slightly down and away from the template until the bottom of the bit is at the perfect depth of cut, and the neck stays centered, relative to the template. Could you modify your jig to do the same thing? I think the commercially available jigs do this, because it is a needed feature.

Are you able to add shims on the bottom of the template to create proper depth of cut?

Hey doncaparker,
Thanks for the responce
Maybe i will add the pins for auto centering



Meddingfool thanks but i need at least 5-6 mm gap so i need to create a second template for that..

_________________
http://www.yiannis.com.gr

http://www.luthier.gr

A wooden spline would also work, obviously. Some jigs use a spline instead of pins. You just need something that fits snugly in the truss rod slot and that will guide the neck in a linear fashion away from the template.

most neck tenons I see are 5/8 in

_________________
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

thanks guys,

pins did the trick…

_________________
http://www.yiannis.com.gr

http://www.luthier.gr