Neck block cut for neck mortise - - - when?

[peter havriluk]

Is it acceptable practice to cut the tenon slot in the neckblock before the block is built into the guitar body? I'm more comfortable cutting the slot on my router table where the angular correctness of the slot can be easily maintained. If I waited until after the block was in place to cut the slot, I'd be needing to do a whole bunch of fiddly work making up router guides when none is required if the block is cut outside of the guitar body.

Any advice/comment is much appreciated.

Thanks, folks.

[John Parchem]

Sure, All of the kits and most of the prebuilt necks come with with the neck with a mortise. I leave the sides covering the mortise until the binding channels are cut.

[peter havriluk]

Thanks, John. I didn't want to be an early adopter of a lousy idea. One more question: Moving right along...anything wrong with cutting the proposed neck angle into the neck block before installing it? I'm thinking of Ken's neck angle fabrication process and how sanding/planning a bunch of wood off the neck block could be avoided by trimming it beforehand. Especially if the neck block was installed in the right place to begin with, allowing for trimming the rim to the chosen angle which on a good day would be evident in the neck block.

[John Parchem]

I do not bother pre cutting with the neck angle into the block because it is so slight that it is really not a big deal and I like to have the square face to make it easy to glue the block to the sides. I do often cut the back radius into the block before installing as it takes a bunch of sanding especially when I have a 10' back radius.