neck pocket route mistake.

[gjoseph]

hello,

ive started my first build and got a little router happy. i routed the neck pocket based off the template not an actual shaped neck. did i just ruin a good piece of mahogany? 

[Bizman62]

Hello and welcome!

The quality of a luthier is not in how meticulously they can build their instruments, it's based on how well they can fix their mistakes!

So to answer your question: No, you haven't ruined anything, you've just changed the design a bit.

Assuming your neck is narrower than the template all you have to do is to add a sliver of wood on one or both sides of your neck pocket and rerout it to fit your neck.

 

[Asdrael]

If it's a bolt on design, it might not even be a big deal really. You might even end up being happy you have a bit of room to realign the neck if something else goes wrong

[gjoseph]

Thanks for the replies. I appreciate the experienced perspective! It is  a bolt on and the neck is still a blank, and it obviously doesn’t have a bridge yet. Two Piece Body so I have a pretty clear center line. If I end up with a gap I suppose I can add wood. Good thing I kept all the scrap wood.

[Asdrael]

Then what you can do (I suppose you have a template for the neck routing?) is wrap the heel of the neck template in a few layers of masking tape. Try to fit the modified template this way into your routed body. Once it's a perfect fit, just route your neck this way. Carefully placed masking tape doesn't interfere with template copier bits.

[Bizman62]

10 hours ago, Asdrael said:

wrap the heel of the neck template in a few layers of masking tape.

And if that seems too thin, splinters of wood attached to the first layer of masking tape with super glue provide more thickness without becoming mushy and bouncy.