Acoustic Guitar Construction

Most of you guys (Where are the girls?) make a bolt-on neck joint. I always make dovetail ones.
I have these Stewmac routing templates and made me the jig to clamp and rout the guitars.

There is one thing I always struggle a bit, and that is the clamping of the guitar body. The 28' radius of my tops prevent a flat and flush clamping to the flat jig. So I always fumble with some 0.125" shims to get the body flush and perpendicular. In a case of unluckiness the direction of the cut is not terrible, but not perfect either.
I manage to get those joints tight and straight for sure, but it would be very pleasing to have it right the first cut. And that all is depending on the right clamping of the body.

So, do you use this jig too, and do you have a trick on the straight clamping thing?
Herman

I use doublestick tape to secure the shims and they are skinnier than 1/4".

I use the Luthiertool edge vice. I have to muck with it a bit on my cutaway ... The useful bit I rely on is a solid clear template with a center line. I use it to adjust jig until I am happy both centered and square and then replace it with the routing tempate.

Herman
I'll be doing my first dovetail joint ever on this archtop guitar. I have templates and a jig.....same jig I use for my M & T joints but Iam a little apprehensive to do the dovetail. I have a Simpson jig that I got used from John P many years ago. It can do the job it is fiddlely.
You may just have to fiddle with yours.
I added a center finder on mine that has helped alot.
For front to back level try using a small torpedo level to get the body in position and then clamp down??

Not sure if that helps you but it does help me.

My suggestions referred to the Simpson jig too, even with Stewmac in the title...Duh...

That Simpson jig, still available somewhere?

Not sure if Simpson is still putting together jigs, His website is a 404. The O'Brien neck jointing jig is the closest to the Simpson jig that I have seen. Close to the same with a few modifications. LMI sells it but they are closing soon.