Stew Mac Neck Alignment Problem

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afruke

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Hi everyone, I am building my first ukulele, a Stew Mac Tenor kit. Everything was going fine until I attached the neck to the body. I made the jig, lined everything up perfectly, dry fitted everything, then glued and clamped. Left over night to dry. When I unclamped the next day the neck was slightly off centre, how annoying!! Something must have slipped! Any advice as to wether this can be remedied or do I carry on and make sure the bridge is square with the neck.

Cheers, Allen

P.S. Have become a ukulele addict, absolutely love the instrument.
 
afruke said:
Hi everyone, I am building my first ukulele, a Stew Mac Tenor kit. Everything was going fine until I attached the neck to the body. I made the jig, lined everything up perfectly, dry fitted everything, then glued and clamped. Left over night to dry. When I unclamped the next day the neck was slightly off centre, how annoying!! Something must have slipped! Any advice as to wether this can be remedied or do I carry on and make sure the bridge is square with the neck.

Cheers, Allen

P.S. Have become a ukulele addict, absolutely love the instrument.
Click to expand...

I would guess it depends on how far off it is and how picky you are. You are going to see it everytime you open the case. If it isn't too far off, the uke will play and it won't affect the sound signficantly. Maybe try some masking tape on the body where the bridge will end up and tape a few simulated strings from the head stock to where the bridge will be and see how it looks.

If it looks bad, the neck may have to come back off.
 
If you try it again, you might try taping two brads into the heel of the neck. nip the heads off and sharpen them to a point. Align the neck to the body and tap the neck to give you two dimples in the body. Then use a drill bit the same diameter as the brads and drill into the dimple marks (just enough for the brads to fit into.) This will help stop the neck from sliding when add the glue.
 
Are you using the supplied dowels for the neck joint? I'm not sure how you could see such a drastic change if the dowels are in place.
 
It can be corrected..but if it's glued on? it aint that easy...you can go ahead and move the bridge but the soundhole will be off ctr..but it will still play Ok...if it's bolted on type, then the glue must be unstuck using heat..and the neck adjusted.
Why not complete this as is ...and try again on another one...I have scrapped quite few ukes in the begining mainly due to neck alignment problems:mad:..They Burn very easily on an open fire.:rolleyes:or you can make them into "Bird Boxes".
PICT3090.jpg
 
Timbuck said:
It can be corrected..but if it's glued on? it aint that easy...you can go ahead and move the bridge but the soundhole will be off ctr..but it will still play Ok...if it's bolted on type, then the glue must be unstuck using heat..and the neck adjusted.
Why not complete this as is ...and try again on another one...I have scrapped quite few ukes in the begining mainly due to neck alignment problems:mad:..They Burn very easily on an open fire.:rolleyes:or you can make them into "Bird Boxes".
PICT3090.jpg
Click to expand...

That's hilarious. I love it
 
Do you get any birds in those boxes?
From left to right, what kind of uke was number 3 going to be?
 
Thanks for the advice, it is glued on, it is only slightly off line, enough for me to notice it though, showed it to my wife and she didn't notice it at first until I pointed it out to her. I think that I will carry on with it, without re-setting the neck, and learn from this experience. All part of the journey.
 
I'm about to start building some Stewmac tenors. I've built several Stewmac sopranos, so I am having a good think before I get going on the big ones.

I don't like the neck dowel business. I can't see how it is possible to get the exact vertical and horizontal neck alignment with dowel holes drilled before the neck goes on the body.

My plan is to make the body and then glue the neck (without the fingerboard attached) to it, using the same technique I use for sopranos i.e. epoxy glue and very, very careful alignment. Once the glue has set, I will use one of two techniques:

1. Excavate a longitudinal hole overlapping the end of the neck and top of the body. Place a dowel or metal pin in this and back fill with epoxy glue.

2. Drill a hole at an angle, starting in the neck and going into (but not through) the neck block. Slip a glued dowel into this.

With both techniques - fair off the top of the neck and body and glue fingerboard to the neck and uke body, covering all sins.

Am I being unnaturally suspicious of the dowels....are they really necessary anyway?

Any hints gratefully accepted!

Cheers,
 
I use a bolt-on neck. I place an insert in the neck, drill the body for a small bolt thru the head block and body into the neck. This allows me to get the neck right where I want it and when the glue is dry I just leave the bolt in place.
 
Timbuck said:
It can be corrected..but if it's glued on? it aint that easy...you can go ahead and move the bridge but the soundhole will be off ctr..but it will still play Ok...if it's bolted on type, then the glue must be unstuck using heat..and the neck adjusted.
Why not complete this as is ...and try again on another one...I have scrapped quite few ukes in the begining mainly due to neck alignment problems:mad:..They Burn very easily on an open fire.:rolleyes:or you can make them into "Bird Boxes".
PICT3090.jpg
Click to expand...

Oh! Thanks a lot Ken. I feel so much better now after nearly sanding through a bent side trying to get out some burn marks and struggling with carving a neck. If I continue to flub, at least I can stay warm or feed the birds.
 
If you make a bird house out of it you'll want to glue a rough piece or two to the inside below the sound hole, else the baby birds won't have any foothold to crawl out.
 
I really wish I'd seen Ken's bird houses years ago. I've put many guitar and uke through the bandsaw that I wasn't happy with. Now I'm thinking they'd have made at least some interesting Folk art.
 
Allen said:
I really wish I'd seen Ken's bird houses years ago. I've put many guitar and uke through the bandsaw that I wasn't happy with. Now I'm thinking they'd have made at least some interesting Folk art.
Click to expand...

I don't know if I could handle it, having these constant reminders of my errors around me. I'd come to believe, I am sure, that the birds are laughing at me. Perhaps once I have a number of good ones under my belt.
 
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