Stratocaster Neck, Too Thick?

[marcusss]

First, hi to all of you since this is my first post on this forum!

I recently bough a strat neck off ebay. when i tried fitting it to my fender mij body (1991) i noticed that the necks heel was higher than on my original neck. See picture below, it's the one to the right.

the original neck's height is about 25mm (1 inch) and the new neck is 27 mm... Will this be a problem or do i have to reroute the depth in the neck pocket to compensate?

Hope someone can help me out.

Edited April 11, 2007 by marcusss

[Xanthus]

Well, you're talking about a 2mm difference, which is .07 of an inch. I would just suggest to raise everything 2mm accordingly (bridge, pickups, and check/adjust intonation again), and you should be all set. Setting up a router and a jig to take care of 2mm seems like a lot of effort for not a lot of change.

Alternative idea: If you're that bugged about having a higher fretboard (I personally don't like having my strings that close to the body), you could clamp down the neck heel and shave 2mm off with sandpaper. It's a lot less work/prep than using a router.

[MCH]

Looking at the pics, unless I'm seeing wrong, there seems to be at least a 1/4" difference; which is quite a lot. I don't think I'd leave it like that in a Strat.

[GregP]

That's some crazy-looking neck. The fingerboard wood seems WAY too thick!

My first reaction was the same as Xanthus-- just raise everything. But then I kept thinking on it, and y'know? I might be tempted to fix it somehow.

I like to think outside of the box a bit, and I myself would be tempted to take the wood off the neck itself. I'd have to have the whole thing in front of me to assess the feasibility, but even with a "lip" of sorts, I'm thinking that you could still pull it off.

The tricky part, if you decided to take a big chance and do it that way (an unorthodox and NOT recommended way... by anyone I've ever seen... I'm just thinking aloud here...) is setting up a jig so that you remove a perfectly level amount of wood....

[Acousticraft]

There looks to be quite a difference there and you may not enough adjustment on your saddles to correct that.

I would clamp the neck down to the bench, put an even thickness block on each side and route off the difference on the heel making sure it is set up true and level to start with.

I always set up with a spirit level to make sure everything is true in relation to the bench surface.

Edited April 12, 2007 by Acousticraft

[WezV]

i owuld be much more tempted to remove wood from the pocket rather than the heel.

you need a template and a router:

neck template

i would do it this way because its easier to work with a flat body than it is a radiused neck/fretboard and i know its gonna be even when i am done.

[badsnap]

While removing woood from the pocket is easier, it will marry that body to that neck. If you were to ever replace the neck, it is quite possible you would need to shim the new neck. So, I would measure to see if the anomaly is in the neck i.e. is this new neck not a standard size? Either way will solve your problem so you need to choose whether you want to be able to easily replace the neck in the future, or easily route the pocket now. By the way, what was wrong with the original neck, why did you replace it?

Peace...Rog

[fryovanni]

First of all. Looking at the picture it looks like the difference in the two necks is similar(at least in the side view) to about a side marker dot. So I don't doubt your 2mm estimate. I would be curious as to where you took the measurement(was it in the center of the neck or at the side of the neck?). Do the two necks have the same radius on the fretboard? A neck with a stronger radius would appear to be closer to the body on the side than one with a milder radius, but the the distance could be the same at the center of the body(this is just a thought before you start making changes).

Persanally, if you need to make a change(and only then) I would opt to adjust the heel of the neck. You would need to take extra care not to angle the heel when you remove material(so keep this as a last resort). I would try to leave the body in tact, as at least that way it maintains it's factory dimensions, and your old neck could be re-attached if needed.

P.S. If you do modify the new neck(and I am not sure if this is an issue to you) it will probably hurt its value(assuming it is sized to a factory spec.).

Peace,Rich