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Old 12-06-2017, 05:41 PM
Trevor Gore Trevor Gore is offline
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It just struck me ...on the body of an acoustic guitar, there are three, and only three, areas where absolute flatness is required ... on all other areas , curves rule OK ..

A: Most importantly, the surface on the upper bout where the neck heel shoulders contact the ribs needs to be absolutely flat (as of course do the neck heel shoulders) ... unless ... the heel has a parallel contour rather than a "V" contour.
I prefer the look of the curved upper bout, whether with parallel or "V" contoured necks. Flats can give a sort of sunken look. If one uses a procedure that involves "flossing" the joint, the difference is about two strokes (the way I do it), so not much of an imposition. Flat front to back makes referencing everything a lot easier, but once you get your eye in, so to speak, a very slight convexity in the sides front to back will give an almost perfect fit on a "dished V" (AKA standard, heel shape) with straight, slightly undercut shoulders, even before you start flossing. Lots of 3D geometry to get your head around, there!

I'll add another "flat"... the bottoms of binding channels. Very hard to achieve with most of the typical router tooling and not totally necessary to bother, but it sure makes gapless binding a lot easier.
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