Martin dovetail question

[sunburst]

Who has had one of these apart and can tell me where to find the end of the dovetail?
I have to re-set this neck, and before pulling frets (bar frets...) and prospecting with a drill I thought I might be able to find someone who knows where the dovetail ends.
(A recent bad experience with a Guild guitar is a contributor to my cautious approach here.)

[dan in va]

i stumbled into a blueprint of the Martin A mandolin somewhere online the other day. The info might be there if you can access it. It's likely the dovetail is the same with the prewar and postwar models, even with the body shape change. It'll be interesting to see what you come up with.

i'm used to other brands needing neck sets, but this is the first time i've seen a Martin A needing it. Did the body settle similar to the guitars or is there another reason it needs the work?

i would like very much to find a postwar A to re-neck. Hope all goes well....dan

[sunburst]

No problem in the neck joint, no problem in the body, just high action and low bridge for some reason.
One thing about Martin, at least until they started trying to compete in the mid-price market, they were pretty consistent. For that reason, I just guessed that the dovetail was the same length as a guitar dovetail, drilled one hole and hit a bulls eye in the dovetail pocket.

[dan in va]

Well, it seems you've been doing this long enough to develop some intuition. The situation still seems a bit odd without an obvious cause...could the neck be less that straight, no movement of the wood around the sound hole, fretboard in the same plane from nut to 20th fret?

John, i seem to remember a mandola build where you used flat wood; sounded real good, too. Would you be interested in building a similar style mandolin?

[sunburst]

There is a little forward bow in the neck, but not enough to cause the neck angel problem. Top is firm and proud (as though sticking it's chest out), nothing seems to be wrong except the neck angle. I can "straighten" the neck with the bar frets. Yes, a little odd, and no obvious cause, but the neck angle was not good and the owner want's it fixed, so I don't need a cause to proceed.

Dan, check your email and see if my reply to yours reached you.

[MikeEdgerton]

John, I've been through the archives here and I can't find a picture of a Style A with the neck off. Please post some pictures if you do take it off.

[sunburst]

The neck is off. I'll try to get a pic or two in a couple of days.
I couldn't find a picture of one with the neck off anywhere on the internet!

[dan in va]

Thanks for the details, John. i found your e-mail and replied -- i'm all ears for your better ideas, too. Thanks....dan

[sunburst]

...I'll try to get a pic or two in a couple of days...

The neck came out with a couple of maple veneer shims, one on each side of the dovetail tenon. They were longer than the tenon, but I broke the ends off before I remembered to snap some pics.

With the shims removed, the tenon shows the usual Martin bandsaw marks.