Setting the neck angle

With the binding on the body, I can set the neck angle. I use a jig for routing the neck heel that was designed by Paul Woolson. Check out his guitars, he really knows what he is doing.

The jig allows you to reference the neck angle directly from the guitar body, making it about as accurate as you need at this stage. The arm sticking up from the top of the jig is attached to where the neck is held. By setting the distance from the arm to the spot on the top where the saddle will be located at a bit more than 1/8 inch, the neck will be angled back enough.

Ultimately, that will give enough clearance for the strings and allow for an easier set-up at the end.


The jig has a template for the tenon, purchased from Stew-Mac. It comes as a set with a matching template for the mortise, which will be the next step.

The result is an angle of about 2 degrees relative to the guitar top.