Why do you think the cheeks were not dished? I see no reason why that heel could not be a bolt on mortise and tenon or a dove tail. In either case the area around the tenon can be relieved. Once the neck angle and center is correct some careful cheek flossing, it is possible to get a good fit like shown in the picture.Dave Bagwill wrote:It is a dovetail, Kevin. I don't know how he got such a good fit without dishing the cheeks, then again I've not worked with a dovetail before - maybe it makes a difference?
I have done a few dovetail neck sets. I do it a little different than what I have seen. I start with a loose dovetail where the neck drop all the way into the mortise. Then I set the neck just like a bolt on. Once the neck is set, I glue shims on the dove tail tenon and work to set the joint itself. I found it hard to set the neck angle properly when the neck could not go in all the way. To many things going on at once for me. While doing a neck reset, where I always need shims after changing the neck angle, I realized how easy it was to set the neck with the joint loose. It dawn on me that I could do the same during the guitars construction.
Basically my point is with regards to the heel cheeks mortise and tenon bolt on and a dovetail are the same.