Official Luthiers Forum!

I usually spray guitars that have a dovetail by inserting a 1/2" rod into the end jack and holding it by that. But I'm building without a 1/2" hole in the back and am struggling to conceptualize how I can hold the body to spray. I can get a scrap piece of wood and cut the male end of the dovetail mortise in that, but unless I glue it in I don't trust it to hold. I don't want to tear up the head block by using some wood screws from the inside out.

So any cool ideas out there on how to hold a body that uses a sliding dovetail joint rather than bold on hardware?

How about using a corner brace? The screws wouldn't have to go through the end block, so holes wouldn't be visible inside the guitar. They are available at most hardware stores.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Everbilt-1- ... /202033892

We just used a finishing nail at my old job. Tapped into the narrow end just enough to stop the fake dovetail on a stick from moving...

Should be easy enough to jig up an expanding dummy dovetail, if you were going to do this more than few times. Thumbscrew pushing against a small hinge?
B

_________________
My memory is so good, sometimes I remember things that never happened.

I can't visualize what you are describing. Where would the nail go, and how does that keep the guitar from just slipping out of the dovetail when top side up?

Hope this explains...


Just left a wee hole in the neck block. You don't even need to drive it all the way in. Just enough to grab the neck block firmly and prevent the handle from vertical movement...

Oops! Nail is backward in pic. Actually goes like so...



Just connect it to the neck block and you're gold...

Oops! Nail is backward in pic. Actually goes like so...



Just connect it to the neck block and you're gold...[/quote]

We make up a 3/4" ply handle from scrap that works for both M&T and dovetail neck joints; this handle gets a properly sized hanging hole and the edges eased with either hand plane or 1/4" radius roundover bit in a router table. For a M&T holder, the body end of the handle is drilled, clamped to prevent blowout, and 1/4-20 threaded inserts are installed on the correct spacing (a quick treatment with super-thin CA toughens those threads up quite a bit and locks the threaded insert in). Note that the measurements on the handles in the shots below are insert spacing; the handles are about 2-1/8" wide at the body end and taper at about 5 degrees included angle.

For dovetailed bodies, a dummy dovetail is fastened to the holder, either with 1/4-20 bolts using the already-installed 1/4-20 threaded inserts or 2" deck screws (if storage space is at a premium in your shop, a multi-purpose holder makes sense, but we have a box of 30 or so holders to fit any bolt spacing or dovetail we are likely to use or to see in repair work.

For M&T, a pair of neck bolts keeps things rock-solid, while for a dovetail, the dummy tail is trimmed with a sharp block plane, shimmed with blue tape, given one final layer of clear package tape (easy release), and an angled 1-1/4" deck screw is screwed in using a washer if needed to reduce depth of screw penetration...the screw pulls the dovetail down as well as back, but the downward movement is usually more than the backwards movement, so the dummy dovetail locks the body to holder. 16" handle length seems like the longest handle length that is desirable, with 12" more than enough to allow both handing and clamping. For a guitar with a very thin neck block where there's no real depth for a screw to bite, substitute a 10-24 threaded insert for the screw, and use a 1" 10-24 bolt with lock nut to lock in the holder.

We usually keep the handle installed from the time we prep to fill the body to buff-out..it is that solid.

_________________
For the times they are a changin'

- Bob Dylan

Thank you for turning that nail around! I was looking at the pictures from top to bottom and thought my head was going to explode!!!

Makes perfect sense, and I think that is exactly how I'll do it. Thanks to all!! (and I really liked that idea of an angle bracket and a pipe, might that that too).

you cant just put some threaded bar on the end of a stick and put that though the trussrod hole with a washer and bolt on the other side?

G.

_________________
www.leddingtonguitars.com

There is no truss rod hole. This guitar has the truss rod adjusted from the neck. I could drill a hole through the neck block, but then I would have a hole left visible from the inside; and that is what I am trying to avoid.

Thank you for turning that nail around! I was looking at the pictures from top to bottom and thought my head was going to explode!!!

No worries:)

I had only done M+T necks until I repaired a smashed 30's Gibson L-00. I made handles for the M+T joint - the body handle has a bolt that goes through the hole in the neck block to a nut in the handle, and the neck handle has a bolt going through the hole in the handle into the insert in the neck - first picture. I turned the handles on a lathe (fun stuff ) at about 1-1/4" and they are very easy to hold while I brush finish then hang. This works so well I have never improved them.

For the dovetail I turned a handle and screwed on a fitted male dovetail. I use a small nail like the other Ed to make sure it stays put, but mine angles down through the neck block into the handle.

Ed

This is the simple method of holding a guitar. Buy a suitable router table and you can make 1/2inch screw holder then fix it at your required area.
This guide is helpful for more information https://www.consumersbase.com/best-router-table/