Strat Neck Pocket And Depth

[catnine]

I am on my fourth strat . Here is what I face . I want to try to keep the body at the neck pocket as deep as possible . All stock strat neck pockets are 5/8 inch deep and most necks are 1 inch including the finger board which is rosewood . Now I like jumbo frets and high action so the problem I end up with is a trem that I can't raise the saddles high enough on . I can use longer saddle screws but then the saddles seem to bind in the intonation holes . So far the only way I been able to get past this is to either route the neck pocket deeper which is what I want to avoid or use a full sized tapered neck shim to tilt the peghead plane of the neck up . I have heard about tapering the neck pocket to get the angle too . Any suggestions ? The neck pocket usually ends up to be just a bit more than 11/16" deep by the time the neck is low enough . I wonder sometimes if the older strats had a body a bit thicker than 1 3/4 inches to strat with . I end up with a neck and body ( area on the trebel side of the neck pocket ) both at close to 1 inch . The only other option I have is to thin the neck by a bit more than 1/16 inch to end up with a strat that does not look thin in the body . A 1/16 is not much but it sure stands out to me .

[sirkentesquire]

My suggestion would be to just route the neck pocket an extra 1/16" deeper, or however much you need. Even if the body was only 1/2" thick at the neck pocket it should still be able to function just fine with the tension present on a regular strat. What is the reason you didn't want to do that? You're right, thinning the neck by even that little bit can make a noticable difference in how it feels to play, but it just depends what you're going for.

[catnine]

My suggestion would be to just route the neck pocket an extra 1/16" deeper, or however much you need. Even if the body was only 1/2" thick at the neck pocket it should still be able to function just fine with the tension present on a regular strat. What is the reason you didn't want to do that? You're right, thinning the neck by even that little bit can make a noticable difference in how it feels to play, but it just depends what you're going for.

Right now the body I built has a pocket 5/8 inch deep . I can do deeper but what I don't like is the hidden side markers behind the pick guard . So I was wondering since most strats I have seen are setup with a much lower action than I prefer and in what ways do others deal with this adjustment . What I don't like about raising saddles to high is this tends to put more pressure on the saddles due to the increased angle of the strings . Most of the factory strats have a neck that is 1 inch thick at the heel and a pocket 5/8 deep . With this you have 3/8 inch of neck above the body on center of the crown . I use a 12 radius board . I also have the trem against the body which in effect lowers the bridge even more . I often wondered what was done on the strats used by stevie ray vaughn to get the high action without shims . from photo's I have seen there is not evidence of shims or deeper pockets , but something had to be changed .

[erikbojerik]

The neck is 1" thick only at the heel...on my MIM strat the neck thickness from 2-14 frets is only 0.90, and I have a 1960s Fender neck that is 0.83" (maple + RW board) and 0.95 in the neck pocket.

Take a little off both the pocket and the neck.

[javacody]

Strats were shimmed at the factory, from what I've read.

[catnine]

I want to end up with a thick neck , just under 1 inch at the first fret . Also the nut is just a hair over 1 3/4 inches . I think in order to keep things at the pocket as thick as possible I will need to cut the pocket to drop a bit one the heel end so the peghead is raised . I calculated a 1 degree pitch and this will lower the angle at the bridge 3/16 of an inch . A stock strat trem bridge set against the body with the height screws at the end of the travel is 7/16 " from the body face to the saddle tops . If the neck is a stock 3/8 above the body at the pocket then you can just clear standard sized frets and achieve a low action . I have seen some strats shimmed and I have seen some with necks that are 7/8 " thick at the heel . In fact every strat neck I have seen is a bit different . Many of them have the back of the peghead lower than the heel if the neck is set on a level surface they are not on the same plane . So if you get many stock neck blanks from stew mac or warmoth you have stock that only allows 13/16 " total thickness unless you use the blanks for a full maple neck . I use a 1/4 " thick rosewood slab and a 9/16 peghead thickness so there is enough of a drop to keep good pressure on the nut . Many strats had peg heads 1/2 " thick . I will figure this out , I need to get the neck close to finished form and then see where I can remove wood for the final fit . I just glued the fingerboard on the neck and for the first time I used a stew mac rodrod truss rod . I always used the martin style single action U channel rods , I did not like the idea of the hot rod truss against the back of the finger board so I cut the slot 1/16 deeper and added a maple filler and I also filled and drilled the slot to fit the fender style screw head at the heal of the neck , stew mac say they leave it open so the rod is removable . if you break this rod you are doing something wrong . I will do may other necks with the martin rods from now on , I don't ever need to adjust a neck for up bow . It may come in handy for thin necks with light strings or a neck with frets forcing a wedging action up bow . With martin style U channel rods you cut your slot and then drill the access hole into the end of the heal , remove the nut and slide the rod in and replace the nut and at the same time have the filler strip ready and glue it over the rod and you are done , plus the rod is a larger diameter but does not need to go so deep , 3/8 instead of 7/16 and you get the filler on top with 7/16 . With thick deep,necks I go deeper . Ten years later with heavy strings and I have'nt touched the rod adjustment . A 1 degree pitch does not seem like much until you are at the peghead then it is raised quite alot . At the link is the hotrod truss and also one of my strats .

Edited November 27, 2004 by catnine