simonoff neck

[bill2125]

just got the simonoff book and it seems that he likes the mortise and tenon joint is what he likes .I have built a mandolin from his old book. in the 20's and 30's did gibson and the other major builders use the dove tail or the mortise and tenon.

[sunburst]

Gibson used a dovetail in the early days.
They might have used a doweled mortise and tennon in the later Kalamazoo days. I say this because I once repaired a Heritage mandolin with the mortise and tennon, and Heritage was (is?) the old Gibson factory, so I'm leaping to the conclusion that Gibson may have been doing that.

[BigJoe]

Durig the 20's and 30's Gibson used a dovetail joint. During the sixties and seventies anything goes and there are some mortise and tenon joints. They are not as tight as a good dovetail. We have to repair the mortise and tenon joints from time to time. Not a fun job. The current dovetail, which is just like the 20's is the best joint we have found.

[Charlie Derrington]

You are partially right, John.

They did use a tenon joint, but with no dowels. The mid-sixties mandolins were the first (to my knowledge) to use that joint and it was used in various forms (including bolt-on) until 1999.

Charlie

[bill2125]

thanks for helping me out think i will try the dove tail