straight dovetail

[Jules93]

the standard dovetail in guitar making is a tapered dovetail but has anyone ever tried or used a straight dovetail as in no taper?

if so how did it work out?

[lamanoditrento]

I believe a lot of archtop makers use a straight or near straight dovetail but then they rely on the fretboard extension to set the neck projection.

[ozziebluesman]

G'day Jules,
I used all sorts of neck joints building my guitars over the past years. My Archtops use a bolt on neck with straight mortise and tenon joint and bolted in. I have a steel tool I had made for me like a Maton neck adjustment tool to attach and remove the neck. It is inserted through where the input jack or endpin is located and removable. My acoustic and classical guitars are the same but an allen key through the soundhole is used to make adjustments. I have used a dovetail joint as per a LMI plan but like the idea to be able to remove the neck to service the guitar. The other good thing you can adjust the neck this way with the string tension still on the neck. On the classical the truss rod is accessed at the end of the neck under the fingerboard and can be adjusted when the neck is removed. Last joint was a straight dovetail system used on a Hawaiian Lap Slide copy of a Kona guitar I built. The neck in this case was attached with a parallel thin dovetail joint with slightly tapered end to stop the joint from parting. The fingerboard was then glued on top of that so it wasn't going anywhere fast. If you wanted a look at that joint I think I may have a pic of that joint in my archives. So I have touched on just a few neck joints and there are many more. There is also a straight dovetail joint as you speak of or it could be called something else that uses a hole either side of the tenon drilling into the tenon and the neck block. A dowel is then hammered in and glued. That I believe is an old style joint but a goodie. Hope that helps you.
Cheers
Alan

[Dave M]

As one can see from Alan's reply there lots of ways to do this joint.

I would however point out what G&G say in the book, that any sort of dovetail is quite hard to adjust for the angle, up and down and side by side required to get the neck geometry right. A straight mortice and tenon makes these adjustments fairly straightforward.

Cheers Dave

[peter.coombe]

I did use straight dovetails on mandolins many years ago, but have been using a tapered dovetail ever since. The reason I changed was although a straight dovetail is easier to implement, it is harder to disassemble. After a bit of practice I found the tapered version to be not so hard after all. Mandolins very seldom need a neck reset, but guitars do, so I would never use a straight dovetail on a guitar.

[Jules93]

Hey guys thanks for the replies so far,
keep them coming even if it’s about different joints you can never stop learning and it’s fun sharing experiences,

A weird neck joint I found the other day was for a steel string acoustic.
they used a but joint with dowels like a plug and socket not, my cup of tea

Another joint that would be cool to try is the old 4 bolt or lag screw joint they used for my vintage EKO ranger 12 string.
Where I’d get supplies for that I don’t know

The last joint I’m thinking of doing is instead of a dovetail Is the Irving Sloane pinned mortise and tenon.

[RodC]

This is how I did the neck join for my arch top:

youtu.be/LbBYzcu2oqM

I have found Tommy Hovinton really good if you like doing hand work.

(Had to try a hand cut dove tail at least once )

[Jules93]

Hey guys thanks
For all the replies sorry I haven’t checked in while
In Alan Hamley mentioned a dowel/ tenon joint
It reminds me of Irving Sloane’s tenon with locking dowel joint he uses in his steel string construction book which is by the way is the first book I ever read on guitar making which was over 10 years ago.
Except he glued the dowels to the tenon first before gluing it to the body which is also a joint I’m considering trying on the next build whenever that is
However neck reset or just taking the joint apart and rejoining won’t be easy

I have a 80’s EKO ranger 12 string acoustic absolutely priceless and the sound is one of a kind.
The neck joint is very unique pretty much an electric guitar neck joint you see on fenders

[56nortondomy]

I'm with Alan. A mortise and tenon joint is the way to go. I've built 3 archtops with that joint and had no problems, it's a much easier joint to do than a dovetail. I also access the bolts through the jack hole with a steel rod with an allen key welded to it. Wayne