Consensus on stew mac's heat stick

[Dave Richard]

I think the covered dovetails are factory re-tops.

If the top was ruined and replaced, imagine some kind of cutter that removed the top and part of the rim and linings, dovetail tenon and all. Then a new top was installed leaving the top lower than the plane of the neck. A shim was added to restore the level under the extender, binding applied to the top and trimmed, then the fingerboard glued on. That process would result in bindings and shim like this one that I encountered and would explain the apparent randomness of covered dovetails.

It would also contribute to thread drift here apparently...


I looked inside the LG2, from which I recently removed the neck: the top linings are obviously 'shorter' than the back linings, indicating the original top was removed, at the factory, in the manner John describes. I do believe John has explained a puzzle that I have for years wondered about. Thanks!

[sunburst]

...I do believe John has explained a puzzle that I have for years wondered about. Thanks!

You know how your mind keeps coming back to things... well, at least mine does... Driving, mowing the lawn, going for a walk, there are those questions like: Why would they glue the top over the dovetail? Why were those little binding pieces sticking up? Why was that spruce shim there? Why wasn't the neck 'level' with the top instead?
Gradually I put the pieces of the puzzle together and a factory re-top is what made sense.