Joining the neck to the body

At this point in the build, I create the joint for the body and the neck.  Traditional builds use a dovetail joint where the end of the neck is fashioned into a wedge that slots into the guitar body.  Dovetail joints are, difficult to get right, and they are also difficult to repair in the future.

Most builders now (even high end guitars), use a more simple mortise and tenon bolt on neck. This approach is easier to do, easier to adjust and easier to repair.  Given that there's no sound difference between bolted necks and dovetail necks, it's not surprising that builders adopt the simpler approach.

The key to this method is to cut the mortise (the slot) in the top of the guitar body (into the neck block) and then cut the tenon into the end of the neck.  To do this, I use a jig template that allows me to route out the mortise and cut a tenon that fits exactly.  The template does double duty - one side does the mortise, the other side does the tenon.

At this point, I've got a rough fit.  The neck is probably not lined up correctly and the fit is a bit rough.  We'll worry about that later.

The neck is attached with two bolts that run from inside the body to two barrel nuts that are mounted inside the tenon.  Drilling these barrel nut holes is pretty tricky, as I have to be careful not to split the tenon.  Once they are in place and all lined up, we can bolt the neck to the body.  You can see the bolts on the end of this neck.

Next up

Making the fretboard