Archtop neck angle?

[PTChristopher]

>>> but the neck joint on a cello is slightly less problematic since it's just a mortise and tenon and not dovetailed.

Never done a cello.

>>> How have you dealt with necks that didn't come out in one piece?

I sit on the floor in the corner and say, "Mummy, mummy, muh-hummmm-yyyeee,....". And don't believe what anyone said - I was wiping my nose, NOT sucking my thumb.

Ya know, I have only really had problems where the dovetail on the neck splits on the grain and leaves a bit of wedge behind. And even then I blame this on impatience on my part. So then it is steam the piece out of it looks usable, or just chisel it out if I am going to shim the whole thing anyway.

The only thing that is non-negotiable in my opinion is super sharp chisels. I mean scary sharp. Otherwise I just have one dopey problem after another in the re-fit.

I have stayed away from Titebond II and III for tenon neck joints. As I understand it, the original is the most creep resistant.

On a flat top, I can never see using anything but hide glue (I mean real, in the pot,...). I assume that any flat top will eventually need to have the neck removed again anyway.

>>> All the ones I've ever done on archtops have been broken heels that just needed to be put back together.

Indeed. While flat tops begin the long trip to a deformed body and neck reset the first day they are strung up, it does seem that most archtop resets are for joint or block failure as you say.

EDIT: I just thought of an L-4 CES disaster from about 6 or 7 years ago. The neck broke away at the body joint, but in such a nice mahogany-grain convoluted way that I left the joint intact and just Titebond-ed the neck to what was left in the guitar. Not a textbook fix, but easily the cleanest way to go. As strong as new - which with mahogany is sometimes a scary thought. And the sunburst finish has the very forgiving dark fade over the break area (like on a 175 burst), so an easy finish repair too.

Chris

[jasonc]

+1000 on sharp tools. I'm not a fan of sharpening (flattening backs anwyay) but I'm a huge fan of sharp.

Yeah, if it didn't come from a pot it's not hide glue. I don't care what the label may say.

[tele09]

I believe the most important part of dovetail fit is that is so tight that one can't move it by hand into any direction(I guess this is obvious though), except of course pulling it out without glue. But when it comes to the fit of the dovetail bottom I imagine it has effect on the instruments transfer of vibrations from the body to the neck, which might affect the tone even noticeably but this is speculation. Well of course the number one thing is a tight fit tough...
I might ask the luthier about the shims of the bottom and dovetail end shimming. I would guess he will shim both of them to make it as tight as possible.

By the way, is titebond good glue to use for joining the neck to the body? As proper neck joint should be strong by itself I can imagine the glue doesn't have to be always hide glue...

[PTChristopher]

Agreed that the strength of the glue is not as important as it may seem.

Hide glue is the easiest for using steam to remove the neck at a later date.

Using anything else is a sort of disservice to any luthier who needs to work on the guitar some day. In my opinion.

Chris