In the March 25 2017 Picture-of-the-Day, the 3-point neck attachment system was described in detail. A pair of micrometer set screws in the neck pocket capture the string tension from a pair of hard-point “noogies” in the neck, while the third set screw adjusts neck angle at the rear of the neck pocket.

When the neck is assembled, the front ball-ends of the two set screws slide up the noogie’s contact surface and “click” into a machined pocket.  The precise shape of the noogie’s contact surface determines the aesthetic feel of the neck assembly “click”, which is the moment when assembling the guitar from its kit form that the instrument comes together and is suddenly a guitar. By altering the geometry of the noogie’s contact surface, the aesthetic feel of the assembly “click” can be fine-tuned. There is no limit to the complexity of the contact surface geometry, as the noogies are 3D printed out of stainless steel.

The original noogie design used in the first set of Ridgewing prototypes is on the left. An experimental noogie design is on the right.

The original noogie’s contact surface profile was a simple pair of arcs, while the experimental noogie had a more complex spline-driven contact surface profile.

Here the two profiles are seen in cross-section.

The profile re-design was to fix two issues. First, when the guitar was assembled, the original noogie did not provide a good “lock” on the ball end of the set screw, so a smaller diameter pocket was called for.

Second, the original profile had a sharp inflection point leading into the contact pocket, and it was thought that if this inflection point could be smoothed, it, combined with the tighter capture of the ball end, would provide a smoother-feeling assembly step, with less “click”.

The 3-point neck attachment system was designed to allow the nuggies to be easily removed and replaced. The cross-pin shown in the first picture is knocked out, the existing nuggies popped out and replaced with the new noogies, and the cross-pin re-inserted. Done.  All friction fit.

The new design was sent off to Shapeways for 3D printing in stainless steel, and they showed up in the mailbox a week later. Almost too easy. I haven’t tried them yet, but I am looking forward to it.