U.S. Guitar Kits Cutaway User Manual download pdf (Page 25)

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ﬂush to the wood, and avoid tearing it loose. Now continue

ﬁnal-shaping the heel with your half-round ﬁle and sandpa-

pers. The neck should be ﬁnal-sanded to 220-grit.

Rough-cut the shape of the heel cap from the plastic sheet

provided, leaving a little overhang to be trimmed with a

ﬁle after gluing. Attach the heel cap trim to the ﬂat bottom

of the heel with medium-viscosity super glue, and let it dry

thoroughly. Carefully and gently ﬁle and sand the material

Fitting the heel cap

Ideally, the neck block has remained square to the side as-

sembly. The neck will meet the top at a subtle 1-1/2° angle.

When they are square, a minimum of hand-ﬁtting is needed

to get the proper neck set (the angle of the neck/body joint).

However, it’s not uncommon to ﬁnd that some adjustment

is needed in setting the neck. Use the following information

to adjust the angle of the neck in any direction.

The neck joint is a mortise-and-tenon joint. The tenon is

the precision-cut extension on the end of the neck, and

the mortise is the neck block recess which ﬁts it. A dovetail

joint is glued together using a tenon with angled sides; the

bolt-on joint has a straight-sided tenon and requires no glue

(except under the fretboard where it extends over the body).

Understanding the neck joint

The measurement we want is X — the amount of

wood to remove from the heel to change the neck

angle so that a straightedge laid on the frets will be

ﬂush with the top of the bridge.

A = How far the straightedge falls below the top of

the bridge. In this example: 1/8" (.125") .

B = The heel length from the fretboard bottom to

the heel cap. In this example: 3-13/16" (3.812").

C = The distance from the neck/body joint to the

saddle. In this example, that’s at the 14th fret, and

C = 11-5/16" (11.312").

X = A x B ÷ C

In this case, those numbers are .125" x 3.812" ÷

11.312" = .042". So in our example X = .042" which

is between 1/32" and 3/64". This is the amount to

remove at the bottom of the heel.

Here’s the way to determine how much wood must

be removed from the cheeks for the correct neck

angle at the bridge. Always remove wood gradually

and check your progress frequently. A little adjust-

ment goes a long way! Our example measurements

below are based on the scale length of this guitar:

25.4 inches.

KIT TIP: Understanding neck angle geometry

Straightedge

.125"

3.812"

11.312"

.042"

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U.S. Guitar Kits Cutaway User Manual Page 25

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