lowrider Posted June 14, 2007 Report Share Posted June 14, 2007 (edited) I've been lurking and learning on this website for atleast a year and a half. A couple posts maybe. Two xmas' ago my wife bought me a solid body "kit" from LMI. It comes with a large hunk of mahogany, bookmatched flame maple and a neck blank that is approx. 3/4'' thick. Along with all the hardware needed. Ok, the neck blank is long enough to where you are supposed to be able to glue a section of it together to make up the heel. Fair enough. Keep that in mind. I'm designing and drawing at the moment and would like some opinions on the size of the joint. My plan would have the neck in the pocket to about the 20th fret on the lower side, about 1 1/8", and just between the 17th and 18th fret on the upper side, about 2 3/8"(22 frets). There is a tutorial on here that i cant find right now that shows a jig and the guy uses the jig to along with the neck to get his pocket correct. This pocket looks similar to what I planned in terms of size, which is my main question. How much is enough? I've considered making the pocket go to the far end of the neck pup cavity but then I remembered that my heel will be made up of 2 pieces and all that would be under this cavity would be the glued on heel. At that point what would be the benefit? It'd be like I just glued a 3/4'' thick neck to the rest of the heel. Am i making any sense here? Hopefully I didnt talk in circles. Thanks for any help on this and if any more info is needed let me know. I found that link http://www.mykaguitars.com/tools/neckpocketjig/ Edited June 16, 2007 by lowrider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted June 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2007 Uh...please. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mattia Posted June 16, 2007 Report Share Posted June 16, 2007 I'm not quite sure what the question is... once you glue up the heel, the two glued pieces act the same as a 1-piece blank would. I tend to let the tenon extend at least half-way into the neck humbucker pocket, if not a little further than that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted June 16, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 16, 2007 Thanks. I get what your saying as far as once they're glued up they act as one piece. I'm not trying to be difficult, but would'nt a properly made joint that didnt extend thru the pup cavity act as one piece once glued also? I think only the glued on section would be extending thru anyway. I'm not against doing it that way and I guess i can see why it would be structurally better, I think. It would almost be the same (in my mind) as just using the single neck blank and not making the pocket as deep, kinda like a bolt on would be. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted June 17, 2007 Report Share Posted June 17, 2007 I've been lurking and learning on this website for atleast a year and a half. A couple posts maybe. Two xmas' ago my wife bought me a solid body "kit" from LMI. It comes with a large hunk of mahogany, bookmatched flame maple and a neck blank that is approx. 3/4'' thick. Along with all the hardware needed. Ok, the neck blank is long enough to where you are supposed to be able to glue a section of it together to make up the heel. Fair enough. Keep that in mind. I'm designing and drawing at the moment and would like some opinions on the size of the joint. My plan would have the neck in the pocket to about the 20th fret on the lower side, about 1 1/8", and just between the 17th and 18th fret on the upper side, about 2 3/8"(22 frets). There is a tutorial on here that i cant find right now that shows a jig and the guy uses the jig to along with the neck to get his pocket correct. This pocket looks similar to what I planned in terms of size, which is my main question. How much is enough? I've considered making the pocket go to the far end of the neck pup cavity but then I remembered that my heel will be made up of 2 pieces and all that would be under this cavity would be the glued on heel. At that point what would be the benefit? It'd be like I just glued a 3/4'' thick neck to the rest of the heel. Am i making any sense here? Hopefully I didn't talk in circles. Thanks for any help on this and if any more info is needed let me know. I found that link http://www.mykaguitars.com/tools/neckpocketjig/ My suggestion is first come up with a design that fits the wood you received and work out what you want to build, then ask specific questions relating to the design you have chosen. I am sure LMI sold you a kit which could be used for many different styles of instruments so first pick a design. Sound like it was more of a Gibson style guitar kit and adding a heel was common. A lot of builders have removed the heel for a more streamlined neck body connection so I would say it really depends on your design choice. Woodenspoke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted June 17, 2007 Report Share Posted June 17, 2007 Indeed. Heels on acoustic guitars, violins, etc. have physical strength from the heel to the front end of the body and are therefore constructionally useful, but for solidbodies - why? Teles and Strats don't need heels and are perfectly happy joining to a pocket in the face of an instrument rather than the front end, similar to acoustic's dovetails/tenons. Heels do look nice however and give plenty of opportunity to embellish an instrument :-D I really like it when a contrasting set of heel woods are added as part of a smoothed neck transition and blended into the body giving interest to the look. I digress. As everyone else says - gluing up to the back of the neck pup is more than enough if done well, heel or no. Once the neck pup cavity has been routed, the constructional (and tonal? heh) value of going any deeper lessens as you've eaten most of the tenon. The Myka jig will give you excellent results, and with a little care a VERY tight neck pocket. As David says - you should be able to pick up your instrument by the neck without even gluing up with a tight pocket. Just don't make it too tight and split wood off the sides of the pocket of course!! Happy building, and do document your progress of course. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lowrider Posted June 17, 2007 Author Report Share Posted June 17, 2007 (edited) Thanks guys. Yeah the kit came with plans for an all mahogany carved top LP with P90s. Not what I want to build right now but there is alot that I can reference from it. This is my first build and while I'm a "decent" wood worker I'm trying to limit my mistakes. I'll be taking pics as I go. Edited June 17, 2007 by lowrider Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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