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One area that may need to have a small amount of wood
removed is the treble or bass cheek. Wood removed here
controls the “side-to-side” alignment of the neck to the cen-
terline. If the neck is misaligned side-to-side, one of the
outside strings will be too close to the edge of the fretboard.
The removal of a tiny amount of wood is all it takes to make
an adjustment here. Remove this bit of wood uniformly
across the contact area on one cheek to tip the neck in the
proper direction (this won’t change the neck angle when
viewed from the side of the body). To check the alignment,
use a long straightedge laid against both the treble and bass
sides of the fretboard and extending to the centerline of the
top at the tail block end: the straightedge should measure
the same distance from the centerline on either side.
If the neck is off-center by only 1/32" or less, don’t try to cor-
rect it. Remember that a tiny bit of wood removal makes a
big difference in the neck ’s relationship to the centerline!
The most common adjustment is removing wood from the
bottom of the cheeks. Removing wood from the bottom of
the heel on both the treble and bass sides equally will tip the
neck back
(59)
. Remove the wood in a wedge shape, which
tapers to zero at the top edge of the cheeks.
Use the formula in “Understanding neck angle geometry” to
determine how much wood to remove. With a sharp pencil
and a straightedge, mark the area to be chiseled away in a
straight line from the bottom of the heel to the zero point at
the top. Continue this line across the heel cap and up the
opposite side. These lines may be tricky to draw, because
they must taper away to nothing ó to the zero point at the
top of the heel.
With a sharp chisel, remove about half of the measured
amount of wood. Don’t overdo it: set the neck into the body
and check the fit. You’ll finish the shaping with sandpaper —
preferably 100-grit emery cloth (cloth-backed sandpaper).
Loosen the neck joint and slide a strip of this sandpaper or
emery cloth between the cheek and the body, with the abra-
sive side facing the cheek. Slide the strip almost — but not
quite — to the top edge of the heel (this top edge should be
left intact). Hold the heel against the guitar body and pull the
strip out toward you (pictured). This removes a little bit of
wood while conforming to the shape of the guitar body.
Shake the sawdust off the sanding strip and repeat the pro-
cedure on the opposite cheek. Sand equally from side to
side. If you need to remove a lot of wood, make two or three
passes before changing to the other cheek. The fit will
change rapidly, so check your progress frequently.
A small ledge of unsanded wood will remain on the bottom
of the heel between the sanded cheeks. Either “pull-sand” it
with the strip, or use a sharp chisel to remove it.
Neck adjustment: side-to-side
Neck adjustment: tilt the neck back
59.
