Cutaway Dovetail?

[nnickusa]

Getting ready to work on the neck joint on my next one, and have found what may be a problem.

You can see by my marks that the jig I used previously, will not leave me much meat in the neck block by the cutaway. So, my question is, is it too late to use a mortise and tenon joint with bolts, a set of which I have, or should I just make a new jig with a smaller dovetail, or is there enough left to provide a stable joint?

I'm hesitant to use the dovetail as is, thinking that the relatively small amount of material left may not be strong enough.

Any thoughts appreciated...

[Dominic]

Go for a bolt on. Far better than a dovetail anyway. The process should be the same except for adding the bolts so you can change tack now with no problems.
Dom

[christian]

I'm with Dom, Bolt it mate!!

Christian.

[jeffhigh]

Whilst I'm a bolt on guy, I don't think the dovetail will be a problem here.
There will be a bit more material further down due to the taper anyhow, and that is where the tension is.

[Nick]

If you want to stick with the dovetail then as long as it's a nice close fitting dovetail I'm with Jeff. That said, nothing wrong with switching over to a bolt on, that's the style I'm going with on my next geetar & while it would have been easier to get the holes in line with the neck block out, it's still easily achieved with a simple drilling jig/template.

[nnickusa]

I think I'll give it a shot. Watching Robbie O'Brien's tute on the process it doesn't seem that too much precision is actually needed. The tenon is a skosh, as he says, loose, and the bolt holes are oversize, so the only time you need to be bang on is the final assembly, as far as I can see....

I do like the concept of the dovetail. Guess it's the traditionalist in me....

[woodrat]

Nick...I love dovetails in my drawers but its bolts everytime in the necks of my guitars.

John

[jeffhigh]

Nick...I love dove tails in my drawers .

John

Well at least its not a sheep fetish, John

[Chalks]

Come to the "Dark Side". Bolt it!

Chalks

[tippie53]

Sorry but I am a traditionalist. Give me Dovetails or give me warm beer. That nip at the top is the same as a Martin cutaway and will be plenty strong. The dovetail is the only joint that can stand alone under stress without glue or a fastener.
We can disagree but we don't ever want to be disagreeable

[Nick]

or give me warm beer.

Mmmmmmm beer, love a warm beer John, as long as the term "Ale" is somewhere in the name.

[nnickusa]

Dovetail, and you can keep warm beer......

[rocket]

Compared to some here i'm a newbie at this caper, with archtops i've only ever used a dovetail joint and i think it's very effective and although i haven't tried the bolt on yet i'm happy to continue with the traditional dovetail method, having said that, i've recently purchased a couple of sets of inserts and studs to use in a bolt on neck arrangement, i'll get round to using those sooner or later but at the moment i'm very happy with the way the traditional dovetail performs.
Cheers,,

Rod.

[Kim]

Nick...I love dove tails in my drawers .

John

Well at least its not a sheep fetish, John

Thanks Jeff

Kim

[tippie53]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L3YJh9OT4mw
this can make dovetail joint easier to do.
Smithwick's is good
Guiness
Yuengling Lager ( 30 miles from my house )

[nnickusa]

Found your video when i was doing my first guitar, and watching it convinced me to try the dovetail. First was OK, second was almost perfect. This one is done and pretty damn good, too, tho not as good as # 2. It'll do....

Thanks for the help, even though you didn't know you gave it to me back then...

I'll drink any of those, but just don't love warm beer....

[tippie53]

thanks I am glad for the feedback. All the vids are made for that reason

[Kamusur]

Yeah great videos John, thank you.

Steve

[woodrat]

Nick...I love dove tails in my drawers .

John

Well at least its not a sheep fetish, John

....ones avatar is usually a givaway there Jeff!