peachtree Posted March 3 Report Share Posted March 3 Hey all, I'm in the middle of a LP-style single-cut build. I'm going to be using a traditional LP-style tenon, not because I need or want it to be vintage-authentic or anything, I think I'd just be left with too little material in the body on the cutaway side of the neck if I tried to go full width. My question is this - I'm thinking about incorporating a comfort carve on the neck heel of my joint, similar to what PJ Eggle does on their Macons. (my body is just the standard Les Paul shape). My question is - would there be any structural issues with this? My body thickness at the neck joint is 47mm - I'm thinking I could carve away 1cm, then have 1cm of material on the back - which would mean a 27mm thick neck tenon (this minimum thickness is only right at the edge too, since the bottom of the mortise will be parallel to the neck angle). Does this sound okay (follow-up - if it is okay, can I afford to lose any more material from the 27mm)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 3 Report Share Posted March 3 1 hour ago, peachtree said: would there be any structural issues with this? Most likely not. Here's my take of a set neck guitar, full width neck tenon. Full story here: https://www.projectguitar.com/forums/topic/50745-started-a-t-type/?do=findComment&comment=584956. The body is only 38 mm thick and there's 17 mm below the neck pocket. As you can see there's no actual heel either. No issues whatsoever. Unlike an LP this one doesn't have a neck break angle. They say that even 10 mm thickness in the neck pocket would suffice but it also depends a bit on the wood. Think of the durability this way: There's similar string pull all along the guitar. Yet scarf joints are commonly used in the narrowest and thinnest part, right before the headstock. Yet there's no complaints about that joint, Gibson headstocks crack on the solid wood section instead and even that requires a shock. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachtree Posted March 13 Author Report Share Posted March 13 Ha the neck On 3/3/2024 at 11:56 PM, Bizman62 said: Think of the durability this way: There's similar string pull all along the guitar. Yet scarf joints are commonly used in the narrowest and thinnest part, right before the headstock. Yet there's no complaints about that joint, Gibson headstocks crack on the solid wood section instead and even that requires a shock. Ha this was the exact argument I made to myself - if the scarf joint at the headstock can handle it it should be okay at the neck joint - just wasn't sure if I was missing anything. I think I'm gonna try and replicate the neck joint on that Macon almost exactly - so a wide neck tenon, with the treble side of the neck exposed and the cutaway blended in to meet, and the right-angled neck joint where the LP cutaway usually begins cut so it curves around instead. I think this will look awesome and solve a bunch of my problems! Fingers crossed... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachtree Posted March 16 Author Report Share Posted March 16 Okay I've had a bit of a play on my plan in AI and I think this is what I'm looking at: So I'll go full-width tenon, extend the length of the tenon to go as far into the neck pickup pocket as I can, remove the neck heel and curve the right angle at the cutaway neck area intersection. Should be fun! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
henrim Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 4 hours ago, peachtree said: plan in AI For a moment I thought you really shouldn’t go that route but, I realized you must mean Illustrator and not the AI that gets a lot of press these days 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bizman62 Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 1 hour ago, henrim said: 5 hours ago, peachtree said: plan in AI For a moment I thought you really shouldn’t go that route but, I realized you must mean Illustrator and not the AI that gets a lot of press these days Whew, thanks for that clarification! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADFinlayson Posted March 16 Report Share Posted March 16 You will be absolutely fine, my guitars only have about 7 or 8 mm under the neck tenon anyway with similar heel shape. While I don't cave the area under the neck pocket thinner like patrick eggle does, their bodies are quite a bit thicker than mine to begin with Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peachtree Posted March 18 Author Report Share Posted March 18 On 3/17/2024 at 10:01 AM, ADFinlayson said: You will be absolutely fine, my guitars only have about 7 or 8 mm under the neck tenon anyway with similar heel shape. While I don't cave the area under the neck pocket thinner like patrick eggle does, their bodies are quite a bit thicker than mine to begin with Thank you! Awesome, that's exactly what I was thinking. Your work is beautiful, by the way! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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