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I set 9 necks today (mortise & tennon) which is a job that I don't look forward to. I don't mind setting the 3 axis' but I dread getting a nice clean line where the cheeks meet the body.

It seems that most of my sides sets have an ever so slight radis to them and this makes the job more difficult to fit the cheeks. The neck tends to rock when fitting them. They say that "necessity is the mother of all inventions" so I put my thinking cap on and came up with a tool that really simplified the task.

I cut a 3/4" x 3/4" x 12" piece of wood. Then I took it to the belt sander and sanded a convex curve on one edge about 6" long. Next I glued a piece of 120 grit cloth backed sand paper to the convex radius. Now I have a sanding stick that makes it easy to sand a slight concave shape into the cheeks of the necks and make a perfect fit to the side.

How do y'all go about fitting the cheek line?

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

I'm getting ready to try something that Mr Matt Gage told me about. I've always slipped a thin strip of sand paper into that joint and pulled it out, back toward the heel cap, this perfects the joint real nice, but also adds back set, so you must beware --
Matt put me in the (KNOW) about a new (AT LEAST TO ME) technique. Use PA back paper and stick the sanding paper TO the body! DHO!
Then you simply slide the neck in from the top if the joint and as is slides across the abrasive it with make a perfect joint to what ever radius your body is.

-- GENIUS---

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Lance@LuthiersForum.com

Lance, that's how Frank Finnochio dies it as well. I think it is on his videos. I know he teaches that method in his class.

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Lance I love those simple ideas, what grit paper is he using?? I think I'm going to try that one.

Thanks

-Paul-

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-Paul-

Patriot Guitars

Lance,
Maybe I'm missing something, but wouldn't this method add back set also? When you slide the neck in from the top, the heel would slide the full width of the side while the rest of the cheek would travel progressively less. The top of the cheek would get almost no sanding. I'm struggling with this too - I spent about 4 hours this week fitting one neck. I think I'll try an adjustable neck on my next.

BruceH

No, this method gets the neck pretty even all the way across if you don't put downward pressure in any one spot. It takes a little practice to not sand too much in one spot, but once you have it down it works very well.

Frank usually does it in a couple of passes, first with 80 grit, then with 120. The method also involves taking a chisel and putting a little relief on the face of the neck in by the tenon before you start sanding.

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

That method will only work if the radius of the sides is constant. And as some have pointed out, the bottom of the heel gets sanded more than the top.
I used to do a lot of that stuff, but learned recently the importance of getting the sides dead flat in that area.it's 10 times easier to get a great neck/body joint when the body is flat there. It doesn't need to affect the curve of the guitar shape noticeably. That's why Bill Cumpiano shows how he flattens that area carefully before setting the neck.
Flat on flat works better. You don't have to sand and sand, chasing the perfect fit until the 14th fret is 1/8" into the body.

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"I want to know what kind of pickups Vince Gill uses in his Tele, because if I had those, as good of a player as I am, I'm sure I could make it sound like that.
Only badly."

YES!!! I forgot to mention that... (sort of a big thing to miss) but you are absolutely right. The top of the guitar under the heel is flattened before you use this trick.

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

The problem I run into is when scraping / sanding the bindings flush it's pretty easy to scrape / sand the outer edges a bit more than the center of the sides. Hence, the slight radius in the sides. I used a belt sander on this batch to level the sides and this helped a bit more but it's still pretty tuff to maintain perfect flatness [for me anyways].

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tim...
http://www.mcknightguitars.com

The way I do it is to leave the bindings a tiny bit proud at the top. Mark the entire surface with chalk, sand using a dead flat sanding board. If you keep re applying the chalk at the ends it helps avoid the problem.

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

I use the PA sandpaper to the body to fit the neck too... I'll cover that in
upcoming videos.... pretty simple and great method.

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John Mayes
http://www.mayesluthier.com

In my repair business, I reset a lot of old Martin guitar necks. The strip of sandpaper method that Lance describes is the best way I have found to fit the neck heel to the shoulders. I use piece about 4” long by 1” wide in 100 grit. I used to reset the neck angle with a chisel and files. Now I take part off with a chisel and finish it with the sandpaper. Sometimes the sandpaper alone is enough. To keep things even, I do 2-3 strokes on one side, then 2-3 on the other, and then the center of the heel plate. I just have to make sure that I don’t touch the heel where it meets the fretboard so I don’t inadvertently change the scale length. Sometimes I have to buff out a few finish scratches on the side. But this process takes a lot less time than it used to.

Tim,

     The first thing I do when preparing to set a neck is
to lay a short straight edge across that area of the
sides to be sure that the surface where each cheek
will sit is perfectly straight. I always check the
surfaces before the body heads into finish in
preparation for the upcoming marriage to its neck. It
allows you to just work both surfaces to a straight
edge which is an absolute rather than hoping to get
a radius match. You idea was a good one and I hope
it works well for you.

   I worked with Frank Finnochio at Martin and we
both use that sand paper adhered to the side
surface in oue own situations. (I probably stole the
idea from him!) I believe Frank may use it on his
setting of a new neck and I only use it on neck resets
when I have no control over the flatness of the
existing surfaces involved.

    By the way, Frank is one of the most entusiastic
and skilled luthiers on the planet. His skills and
design sense are surprisingly unsung since he has
chosen to keep a relatively low profile in being happy
to offer great classes to educate aspiring luthiers
and repairmen. It was his enthusiasm that sparked
my interest in making a full time move into guitar
building and repair. His instruments are beautiful
and I would stand them next to any being built by any
of the more recognized builders in the world. Their
tone is as much a pleasure to experience as their
appearance. See one if you have a chance and,
better yet, play one and enjoy.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher

I'm still a bit of a novice here, but I found something that seems to work pretty well.

I have a Delta 18/36 drum sander. I take an old sanding roll from the drum sander that is starting to wear out. I feed the beginning of the roll under the cheek of the neck heel (abrasive side to the cheek) and convince my wife or one of my kids to pull the roll through, while I hold the neck in place and ensure that the roll feeds properly. Once my wife or son pulls the roll back until its end (I think it's about 15'-20'), I turn the guitar around and have them pull the other end. Seems to work fine, and only takes a couple minutes.

Kelby, what a great idea! I have a few of those old rolls that I have been trying to decide what to do with. This sounds like the perfect recycling job for them.

Maybe I'll cut them into about 3' lengths and see if I can do that one by myself.

Thanks for another good idea!

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Dave Rector
Rector Guitars

Those of you that are setting to a sanded flattened surface How are you assuring that the flat is square in the X,Y and Z planes. I am probably missing something here but from a manufacturing engineer's stand point, it is simpler and more efficient to adjust one component to fit another and maintain planer relationship, than it is to adjust two fitted components and maintain planer relationship.