lucky1 Posted July 3, 2004 Report Share Posted July 3, 2004 (edited) Edited September 19, 2004 by lucky1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krizalid Posted July 4, 2004 Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 if i'm not mistaken, there's some discussion at MIMF over this tenon issues of stneck. i'm not really sure. maybe the more experts can help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky1 Posted July 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 (edited) Edited September 19, 2004 by lucky1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted July 4, 2004 Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 I definitely don't qualify as a guru, but I may have what you asked for. I have a set of plans that give the original tenon dimensions off of a late 50's LP. The tenon was 3" long and 1 3/16" wide. It was 1 11/32" thick and was flat across the bottom as the neck pocket was angled and not the tenon. The neck angle on this guitar was 4.5 degrees. I also attached a couple of pics of my LP neck tenon in progress. It's still rough. I may not have understood your design correctly. Please keep in mind that the tenon dimensions I've given are to fit a LP body that was a full 2" thick at the edges. That LP was a single cutaway with a carved top and the neck joined the body at the 16th fret. That means there was plenty of wood on either side of the tenon to give good support so a long, narrow tenon was ok. You mentioned you are making a double cutaway style guitar with a flat top. That sounds more like an SG or double cutaway LP Junior as far as neck / body join construction is concerned. What I mean is that your neck/body join is probably more like at the 19th fret (or even higher such as at 22nd fret). That means the tenon is likely to extend into the place where the neck pickup route will be. You may need a tenon that is basically as wide and as thick as your neck in order to get sufficient glue surface after routing the pickup pocket. Hope this is clear. Sorry I don't have dimensions for a SG tenon. Wish I did though as I am making one of those also and will need that soon enough. Also, your neck angle will be different than on a LP - likely less is my guess. I understand some SGs had no neck angle as the neck/fretboard was raised in the body to adjust for the height of the TOM bridge. In any case, I highly recommend Melvyn Hiscock's book "Make Your Own Electric Guitar" if you don't have it. Hope this helps. Good luck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzI Posted July 4, 2004 Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 the neck angle is usually around 2 degrees for a tom, as far as the set neck goes why not make your own joint, theres no reason why you hafta copy gibson's design, i have heard lots about the long tennon you might want to look into that also, as for another idea why dont go with a neck thru instead of a set neck it may be a lil bit easier and less chance of screwing up MzI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted July 4, 2004 Report Share Posted July 4, 2004 Who was it here that was making a set neck guitar with a dovetail/tenon joint? That looked like a much better design than just a straight tenon, though it would require a bit more work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky1 Posted July 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 (edited) Edited September 19, 2004 by lucky1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted July 5, 2004 Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 Lucky1, your original post got me thinking. Since I am making an SG style guitar as well as the LP, I was now forced to address the neck/body join question that I have been putting off. So, I went out to the old garage (I mean workshop ) yesterday and cut a mortise for the neck tenon. I decided to extend the mortise into the neck pickup cavity as you can see below. I also decided to create the neck/body join at the 19th fret because that gives me more support on the sides without extending too far in to the body. I wasn't confident enough to join at the 22nd fret like the SG Supreme I am modelling after (thin flame maple top over mahogany body). You can see that my tenon will need to be trimmed at the end to fit into the pickup cavity without obstructing the pickup. Anyway, sounds like you are good to go. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted July 5, 2004 Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 Oops. Operator error. Try these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky1 Posted July 5, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 (edited) Edited September 19, 2004 by lucky1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnsilver Posted July 5, 2004 Report Share Posted July 5, 2004 Lucky1, thanks for the positive feedback. I should tell you that these are my first set necks in this LP style and and SG style that I am making. You have the idea on cutting the mortise so that the bottom is angled. First, the top has to be carved to the correct angle that you calculate for the type bridge you are using, scale length, etc. I approached this by rough cutting out the body shape leaving it a little oversize to avoid tearout in the end grain. I set a sliding t-bevel to the angle I calculated and then began to slope the neck end of the body using a spokeshave, a plane, xacto knives, my teeth (just kidding about the xacto knife ) and anything else in my shop with an edge. I checked the angle frequently and was careful enough to end up with a reasonable result. I wouldn't recommend this - too trial and error and I felt as if I was bordering on disaster. Also, don't cut your pickup routes before carving the top There is a great post in the in progress work section of this forum by Setch on making of a LP. He is doing great work and his method of angling the top is more reliable and repeatable and safe. He also shows how he cut his neck tenon and mortise - beautiful. Once your body top is angled, you can then use a template to cut the mortise and the bottom of the resulting mortise will be at the same angle as the top. Sweet As far as cutting an angled mortise on a flat top, I think Setch's method with his jig would do that as well. In any case, on my SG style, I have a flat bottom mortise which means I'll need to angle my tenon whenever I calculate the angle. Anyone have any ideas on how to do that with precision? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lucky1 Posted July 7, 2004 Author Report Share Posted July 7, 2004 (edited) Edited September 19, 2004 by lucky1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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