Fixing A Bad Neck Pocket

[Jivin]

Hi Everyone,

I'm trying to put together a Tele, so basically I have an aftermarker body and neck, both of which supposedly had the same dimensions, however after getting the gear together, its quite obvious it doesn't fit

It would appear as though the side of the neck pocket actually curve outward, making the pocket wider as it gets closer to the body, however the sides of the neck itself are (more or less) straight in comparison. I've tried to capture it in the photos below:

I'm not sure what road to take to fix this problem. Should I just be shimming the sides using slivers of timber?

Any help would be appreciated,

Cheers,

- Dan

[eddiefletcher]

Dan personally I'd think of filling the original route in and re routing the pocket to fit. From what i've found that for me works out easier than trying to shim the extra area up and creates a better seal. Its the hard way to go and hopefully some other ( more intelligent people ) on here will have some better ideas but on the Ibanez's i've worked on this method cant go wrong. The reason being to find shims and make them that fine is a hell of a problem, it may just be me but thats my 2 cents! cheers and good luck!

Oh and if your looking for replacement wood in aus give me a shout I know a few good suppliers!

[zephyr7]

Basically I agree with eddie but I would not fill the whole pocket.. just the parts that needs filling.

Good luck, bro.

[Jivin]

Hi Eddie, thanks for the response!

Question though: Roughly how do you suggest going about filling in the pocket? I had had that idea too, but I wasn't quite sure how to go about it, especially since the shape to fill is a bit abnormal.

Thanks again dude, and id be more than happy if you share your wood suppliers with me

Thanks,

- Dan

PS: if you have MSN go ahead and add me, its always good to have local help on hand

[Maiden69]

This is the way I did on my guitar, but in mine I did 2 strips all the way thru the body, my guitar since the bottom of the pocket was dead on and I just needed to adjust the sides and I wanted to paint it in a see thru color, no nice with a block on the neck pocket. but if you can paint a solid color you can just do a block like on the pics that I moded for you. I usualy just get a block and used Mykas technique for making the neck pocket.

Get the block and position it over the area that you want to plug. (I would place the end of the plug were the top of the pup rout is, that way when you glue it in place you don't have to redo the pup cavity) then get 2 strips of wood at least 4" X 2" that will extend 10" from both ends of the rout area to give support to the router. pinch the block with them and secure to the body. Once secured, take the pug out and rout the cavity, I like going at least 1/4" below the neck pocket, which will make the rout about 1" deep. cleanup and glue your plu. Once this is done you can use the same technique to make the pocket, with a piece of wood between the 2 strips to make the end of the pocket.

[Jehle]

If it were me, I'd leave the slop in there. You should be able to set the neck with no problem, and the bolts will hold it in place fine too. The pickguard will cover most if not all of the slop.

Since this is a bitsa made from parts, I wouldn't go through all that work to tighten up the neck pocket like that. It's a cosmetic issue more than anything.

[Jivin]

Thanks for all the input so far guys!

Maiden: I hadn't thought of that, and it is a good idea, however the body is already been clear lacquered so thats probably a bit out of the question now.

Jehle: Interesting idea... but I dont know... wouldnt tone suffer quite a lot by having such a poor neck attachment? I haven't measured it up yet, but my best guess is the proper placement for the neck lies somewhere in the center of the pocket, so if i bolted it in, there would be basically no contact between the neck and sides of the pocket... ?

rhoads suggested I just use slips of veneer to chock out the sides... but im pretty sure he was meaning only for a small gap, whereas this gap is easily 1mm on either side.. lol

[rhoads56]

Veneer it, it DOES make a big difference.

[jer7440]

It looks to me like just the one side of the pocket is off, right? If so I would true up that side with a very sharp chisel. Get it nice and square with the left side and the bottom. Then you can glue in a piece of wood say 1/2" wide and as deep as the neck pocket. Shape the wood to fit the radius and the bottom of the pocket so it all looks nice and neat. Then put your neck in and line it up just the way you want it to be and clamp it down. Then create a "fence" per Maiden's instructions, and reroute the one side of the pocket.

This all assumes that the left side of the pocket is accurate. If not you may have to do both sides.

[westhemann]

Veneer it, it DOES make a big difference.

i agree...i have used veneer in such a case....and if you do it properly,you will hardly notice it