Tacoma bolt-on neck

[Dave Bagwill]

I'd like to make one of these necks. Does anyone have specs/techniques etc. or reference to a site that gives them? Thanks.
I got this pic from an old Tacoma Catalog - 2005. Folks on the Tacoma Forum, which is still a going thing, aren't much help.

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[peter havriluk]

Dave, this a tangential response: I've built five guitars using Dave Micheletti's (aka Luthier's Cool Tools) neck attachment design. I used all of Dave's design and techniques with the addition of a floating tenon which I use to reinforce the heel and reliably locate the neck. I'm very happy with the results. The neck bolts on with two bolts in the heel and two studs in fingerboard support struts. I find the process eliable and secure. And no CNC parts required, just a router guide I made on a milling machine.

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks Peter - I'm not acquainted with that resource but I'll look it up now.

Ok - looked it up, very interesting. What comes in the kit he sells for $29.95?

[peter havriluk]

Sorry for the slow response.

Dave, when I bought a neck kit, the two mahogany struts with threaded inserts, the neck bolts, threaded inserts, the strut screws, and attendant washers, and thorough instruction sheets comprised the kit. I had a friend make the routing jig, Dave wasn't offering them at the time. I don't begrudge paying for the intellectual content at all.

I made three improvements (at least I think so):

(1) After wrestling with the two screws that hold the fingerboard struts, I made up studs and used nuts and washers with the studs, vastly lowering my blood pressure.

(2) Used a floating tenon in the neck and deepened the neck block to accommodate it. Keeps the neck nicely located.

(3) I ran the neck block all the way to the lateral brace in front of the soundhole. And installed the lateral brace before installing the top. Installing the brace first locks up the rim nicely, before the top goes on. Nothing much can move and the rigidity helps me set the neck angle.

I ran my changes by Dave before I tried them and I got the idea that they weren't going to be problems.

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks Peter. Couple questions: what is a floating tenon? any pix of that?
And - for each guitar, do you purchase the parts from Dave?

[peter havriluk]

Aha.

Dave, a 'floating tenon': To use the phrase a luthier used to describe what I wanted to do, is a tenon created as a separate piece,and glued into a routed slot in the neck. Neck fabrication is simplified no end by allowing the neck angle to be crosscut on a tablesaw and the tenon's slot subsequently routed into the neck. It allows for a tenon to function as a crossgrain neck reinforcement. More operations than a factory wants, I think, but that's of no concern when the labor rate is zero dollars per hour. I can also match-drill the neck bolt/threaded insert holes in the floating tenon and neck block on my drill press before anything gets glued up.

I used Dave's full kits on my first two, just his mahogany fingerboard supports on the second two, and I was entirely on my own for the third pair after I figured out how to successfully press threaded inserts into the fingerboard supports without splitting them.

[Dave Bagwill]

Thanks Peter.
Sounds like we make about the same per hour wage...