albertop Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 I´m building a neckthru SG style guitar (looks like a popular choice in this forum ) and I was thinking in using dowels to join the body and neck, does it seem a little cautious?, the body thickness is 1 3/8", I know it would work but maybe I don´t need to, thanks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morben Guitars Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 Dowels and Biscuits are not typically used in neck joints b/c of the difficulty they would present should the neck need to be removed/reset. A good joint and the right glue will hold plenty well. If you don't think you'll ever need to remove the neck, and would like the extra assurance, use a dowel (possibly the expanding dowels). Or you could get ambitious and try a neck-through design! A great option for the SG given the small tenon this body dictates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted May 24, 2004 Report Share Posted May 24, 2004 isn't that what he's doing morben? a neck thru?... anyways, like he was saying, no it's not usualy used, run your neck blank and body wings thru a good jointer, making sure you get a clean, straight, 90 degree cut along all 4 surfaces. Then just make sure you use good wood glue such as titebond original, and clamp properly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Morben Guitars Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 Whoa. My afternoon Coffee hasn't kicked in yet.. Forget that previous post...I missed that it was a "neck through" and thought he was using dowels for the neck tenon. I actually used dowels when I joined two pieces for a body blank once...more to avoid slipage during glue-up than anything else. But like krazyderek said, they are not necessary - that joint will be strong as the wood. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank falbo Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 Totally unneccessary! And to boot, I have a story about that. My very first guitar had dowels in it to join the two halves of the body blank. Then when shaping the treble cutaway, all of a sudden, there it was! There was the dowel I had buried in there! It's a mahogany oil finish, so you can still see it to this day, eons later. I have a love/hate relationship with that dowel and have toyed with the idea of cutting and inlaying a mahogany patch several times, but I can't bring myself to do it. The only benefit to a biscuit or dowel would be to line the pieces up so they don't walk under clamp pressure. But there are better ways to do that, like clamping perpendicular to the joint with some flat cauls, or even cutting a couple little brads in there, like you'd use little pins with a fretboard. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
albertop Posted May 25, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 wow frank your story totally convinced me; allright, it will be without the dowels then, thanks a lot for your quick responses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andreas Posted May 25, 2004 Report Share Posted May 25, 2004 I was considering of putting buscuits in my project..hmm usefull post to fall on. Will it make it stronger tho than just glueing and just that extra strength is not worth the trouble? And also does it affect the tone in any way or it is negligible? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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