Neck Movement

[Demian]

Guys, I have a new luthier bolt on guitar and the other day playing it I realized that The Neck moved a little. So I hold the body and tried to move the neck to see if was an impression the first time, and guess... did it again.

the neck moves if I hold the body and try to push the neck down a little hard that If I pull it up it move again, I have others guitars and never did that.

So, I wonder if the problem are the size of the 4 screws that hold the neck, because I tried to thigten the screws and they was fine and hard.

Its a little movement its not big deal, but I`m scared if it give me big troubles in a future especially for the 2 little pieces of wood that are in the sides of the neck from the body.

How can I resolve this problem... Do you know if I have to adjust something or worst, change something ?

Demian

Ahh its a AAJN shape!

[Southpa]

Either the screws are too small or the mounting holes in the neck are too big. Hole size should be where you can barely push the screws through, any looser and there is too much play.

Check to see if the inside face of the neck pocket and matching face of the neck have some sort of finish on them. They could be too smooth and are sliding around on each other. If that is the case you could just scuff each face (lengthwise) with rough sandpaper.

[unclej]

when you say it's moving do you mean that it's sliding in the neck pocket or that it's bending?

if it's moving in the pocket you might try tuning down the strings and removing the neck screws. then while pressing the heel of the neck to make sure that it's flush with the floor of the pocket replace the screws and tighten them well. if it's still moving then follow southpa's advice.

if it's bending there are several reasons for that possibility..thickness of the neck..stiffness of the neck wood, etc. and there's not much you can do about that.

[Mickguard]

What is a luthier bolt-on? If you bought this guitar, take it back.

[gripper]

I think the key here is the AAJN. Southpa probly has the correct solution to get the shiny stuff off were the neck meets the body so it doesn't slide so easy. The non-AAJN necks have a full pocket to keep things tight but yours doesn't. You could do what GM does (I am a recent auto-tech grad) and drill for two rollpins under the neck-mount plate so you won't see them when you are done. Two small dabs of contact cement might work also. Remember, this advice is coming from a guy with 2, count em', 2 builds under his belt.

[frank falbo]

Either the screws are too small or the mounting holes in the neck are too big.  Hole size should be where you can barely push the screws through, any looser and there is too much play.

←

Southpa is right, although I think he meant that the mounting holes in the body were too big. If the holes in the neck are too big then the screws would strip. I usually make my body holes so that the first two just barely slip through. Then when the neck is firmly planted, the second two holes are small enough that the screw actually bites both the body and neck. The body hole is still a little bigger so the bite isn't as substantial, but it's enough that you can't push the screw through the hole. It has to thread. And many times I'll let the screws thread in all four holes, using a clamp to lock the neck in place for the initial threading.

Cleaning or de-glossing the pocket is a good idea, but sometimes the neck and/or body aren't perfectly flat. In that case, the neck is pivoting because it's only making good contact in a few places, or perhaps just in the center. De-glossing won't help that, but a re-route of the pocket, and re-planing of the neck will. That's when you take it back to your builder.

Really all of this stuff should be taken care of by the builder, as was said already.

[Southpa]

although I think he meant that the mounting holes in the body were too big

Yeah thats right, sorry, I had it bass-ackwards.