more neck questions, under strain (not me, the neck!)

[simon1138]

Hello,

I have a question about my neck fitting. preferring the arse-about-face methods and the many problems it brings. i have fitted my neck by clamping in place, laser level it "straight", superglue/masking taped two bits of mdf either side to create a neck pocket jig. routed and the neck seems to fit with a little bit of a gap. problem is when i try to get the neck where i want it, it is under strain and when i let go moves back. if i clamp in position and then drill it will this strain cause issues? or should i recut the neck pocket? please tell me the first is ok as i am not enjoying the back and forth that poor planning brings.

[Bizman62]

If it doesn't want to stay where you want to put it, it's a problem. Finding the exact spot that causes the issue may be difficult but worth the effort. I don't know whether a piece of carbon paper in the gap would tell where there's extra pressure but it's worth trying.

[curtisa]

15 hours ago, simon1138 said:

problem is when i try to get the neck where i want it, it is under strain and when i let go moves back.

What do you mean by moving it where you want it? Do you mean left-to-right, trying to rotate it within the pocket such that you alter the degree the strings follow the edges of the fretboard?

[Crusader]

Photo would be good to see what you mean

[simon1138]

i have since been able to get it where i want it. drilled the holes and fitted the neck so now it sits where i wanted it to go. i just have a few unsightly gaps that are bothering me

[Bizman62]

50 minutes ago, simon1138 said:

i just have a few unsightly gaps that are bothering me

Now that you have the neck exactly where you want it to be, there's plenty of options to continue:

• One is to make the neck pocket larger by a suitable width and fill the gap with a decorative piece of contrasting wood or metal or even resin.
• Another is to try to cut matching slices from the offcuts of the body, fill the gaps and reshape the pocket for a perfect fit.

There's several ways to trim the pocket wider yet aligned with the neck. One is to make a carbon copy of the neck end to be used as a routing template, another is to build a makeshift template around the current neck, using spacer slats for the desired width. Or you can simply draw lines adjacent to the neck and use the widest sharp chisel you can find which is most likely what I'd do for patching with the body wood.

Whatever you choose to do, aligning the fix with the neck is crucial. Unless, of course, you end up creating an entirely differently shaped patch like a circle around the neck...