KMG MM used with Obrien/LMII neck jig...

[Jim Ebert]

On Friday, I just happened to have viewed these two videos by Bob Taylor explaining neck angle and of coarse he shows how their NT neck design compensates for the fact that wood is wood. Even with Taylors precise manufacturing there are still adjustments that need to be made. He does talk about an ideal bridge height and the effects of a taller or shorter bridge though.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2-M4Lzr1kc4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2XnmKePcUE

[RandyG]

Thanks for the reality based discussion fellas!

I, of course, understand wood's propensity to shrink and swell and give and take,etc, but at the same time, I really do appreciate the thought processes and work that folks like Ken go through in an effort to account for the effect of those variances as much as humanly possible to allow us to build the best instruments we can, given the inherent variables involved in working with wood.

The old days of trying to guess which top radius would yield the correct overall neck to body geometry had too many variables up in the air at the same time for me to ever feel comfortable until everything luckily fit together to make a playable instrument.

I much prefer building with today's jigs that allow at least a theoretically geometric valid way to carve the wood in order to have it fit together in a more or less properly predetermined fashion.

I do love my Mega Mold and Lmii neck angle jig, if for no other reason than the fact that that they make perfect sense to me, even though they don't always result in the creation of a perfect instrument.

[ken cierp]

I much prefer building with today's jigs that allow at least a theoretically geometric valid way to carve the wood in order to have it fit together in a more of less properly predetermined fashion.

Exactly! One of my pet peeves in our craft is the abundance and distribution of erroneous information regarding neck joint fit, both in writing and videos that proclaim this joint is a process of trail and error. As has been indicated here it is a mathematical exercise (equation) which results in parts that match.

[Daniel P]

I'll be using the MM and a Simpson neck jig on my next two builds - working toward a precise fit, and planning on some mathematical exercises and some fine tuning to get my final setup dialed in.