Dovetail question

[PickinFool]

I just received my 2nd Stew Mac A model kit that I envision to be the next Lloyd Loar model. http://www.mandolincafe.net/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif Making sure that all the companents were shipped, I checked out how the dovetail of the neck and body fit. Although the dovetail sides look OK, there is at least a 1/8 to 3/16 gap where the neck is suppose to make contact against the body block. It goes all the way down - you can see daylight! Will this gap cause any structural problems since the glue will do no good where the neck hits the block? Will tone be effected? Do I merely put a shim in there to make up the difference, or send the whole thing back to Stew Mac?

[Brier]

Pick,

Can you send a picture? If the gap is in the back of the dovetail it's o.k. but if on the outside you have to shim to get a good glue joint. Don't worry about shims for they have been used by everybody.
Peter.

[Chris Baird]

I think that back fit is very important to the integrity of the joint. I've noticed looking at others websites that there is often a shim there. I don't know if there is some way of fitting the dovetail that makes use of a shim there everytime but I always make sure those surfaces are machined perfectly before I fit my joints. That way all I have to do is make sure that those back surfaces stay in perfect contact and theorticaly the neck should be perfectly lined up.

[PickinFool]

The fact that there is a 1/8"+ gap between the neck dovetail and the body block dovetail tells me that the machining was extremely sloppy. I may take a picture of the joint and email it to them.

[Jim Hilburn]

You may want to send Stew-Mac a picture and explain the problem. I have a friend who is working on a kit, and they have been very good at addressing any problems.

[boboshoes]

This comes from building guitars but I always leave a little gap at the back of my dovetails. If there is no gap it would be almost impossible to steam out if it ever (heaven forbid) needs a neck reset. The beauty of the dovetail neck joint is that it is self locking.

I have strung up a few guitars and a few mandolins without any glue in the dovetail joint. The more pull the tighter the joint. Glue in a dovetailed neck keeps the neck from falling out. A mortise and tenon joint on the other hand uses glue to make the joint. Completely different beasts.

[Michael Lewis]

Boboshoes is correct here. There needs to be a gap between the end of the dovetail tenon and the neck block, or you will play hell trying to get it apart for a re set. I re set a lot of guitar necks, and without the gap it is nearly impossible to get the neck off without seriously damaging the rest of the instrument.

[Chris Baird]

What size of gap are we talking for easy reset?

[Michael Lewis]

I try to make it about 1/8" or so, maybe a bit less. It should be big enough to drill into and slip the metal tube in.