Official Luthiers Forum!

Why not have the neck thickness increase as it approaches the body to where it is much more substantial as it enters the body? You could make it so it smoothly transitions over a few inches and fits nicely into the single cutaway. On the the double cutaway there would be a few inches more of the thicker section but it would look nicer than the original idea....and feel better for sure.

There would be a lot more material in the load bearing area that way.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

The black arrow shows the compressive load point in the second pic. The white arrows show about where a tensile load will apply cross grain.....muy malo....assuming the glue bond breaks. That glue bond is not be too optimal the way it's drawn....given it has little surface area AND a lot of the string tension will be forced into the 90 degree corner where it meets the body.

In pic one, the white lines sort of show how the geometry can be changed to nearly eliminate stress - or at least seriously reduce it.

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I read Emerson on the can. A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds...true...but a consistent reading of Emerson has its uses nevertheless.

StuMusic

How about doing something closer to a traditional bolt on heel on the double cut, that could be transitioned into the neck itself...?
kind of like this bass from the "post pics of your electrics" thread download/file.php?id=7341&mode=view
That way it could extend out and cover the flat area left from the single cut.... If this makes any sense
Just a thought...

Jebarri

Not to be too obvious ,but you should make necks for the single cut heel and modify them when you get and order for a double cut.
It seems to me that modding the heel is a 15 min job with a small oscillating spindle sander.
I have modded many "Fender" heels this way to get rid of the squareness biting into my palm.

Not too dissimilar to this idea.
I hope this helps,good luck.

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How long is that in luthyears?

Could you not carve your neck for the doublecut, then modify your singlecut to match it. It would be more complex to mill, but once you were jigged for it it wouldn't be difficult. You would have a lip on the body where the neck sits.

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Chris

There is another way to get a good looking heel that will swap out with both body styles.
Make a comfy heel block that screws or attaches with a magnet onto the back of the doublecut heel and remove it to mount in the singlecut.Make sure the block mounting screws/magnets are inside the singlecut neck pocket. Maybe use the same holes to mount the neck in the single cut to give a firmer contact.
This way gets the benefit of the larger contact area in the singlecut,giving you a bigger difference between the two mounting styles. So you can change the contact area as well as wood choice to vary the tone.
Please excuse the drawing as it was done with a mouse.

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How long is that in luthyears?

And you could have a sampler-pack of sorts in your shop with one of each of your necks and one of each of your bodies, so a customer could 'snap together' a guitar and make sure they find the combo comfortable.

I've been working on some ideas along those lines, though more for repeatability/standardization in fit and because it's easier for me to replace a neck than it is to repair one if it gets damaged in a drop, etc. I'll let you know if I come up with anything worth stealing when I start working on the designs again

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Bob Garrish
Former Canonized Purveyor of Fine CNC Luthier Services