neck pocket depth

[mad_mackem]

lo all again quick question i think ..

im makin my guitar first timer!

n ive started to route out my neck pocket and so far have routed it out to 5/8" cos thats what i read in a load of places..is this the right depth for a bolt on neck which needs to be angled back 3 degrees and the guitar has a bridge of 15mm high in its lowest position. the neck pocket is str8 n im angling the butt of the neck.. so is 5/8" suitable or does it need to be summat different??

thnx

[guitar_ed]

I don't know the answer to your question, but I can tell you this: It is easier to remove wood than to add wood.

Guitar Ed

Advice worth what you paid for it. Nothing.

[daveq]

That was a bit confusing when I first started building guitars. Every place I looked seemed to indicate 5/8" but it looked too shallow to me. I build guitars similar to the way Ibanez builds their RG models and those do not have 5/8" depth.

The thing to consider when routing the neck pocket is the height of the bridge and whether or not you are going to have a neck angle. You also need to consider the fretboard height (usually 1/4" in the middle) and fret height. Add in about 1/16" for clearance between the upper frets and the strings. All of this needs to add up to where the bridge height is expected. For floyd bridges, this is all pretty easy since you can usually adjust the bridge height (when recessed) if something is a bit off.

A side view drawing of yuor guitar will help determine the neck pocket depth and is the best way to be sure. For my guitars, the depth is just under 3/4". I leave about 1/16" of neck wood above the body (not including the fretboard) and this seems to work well. I have seen some guitars that don't leave any neck wood and the bottom of the fretboard is right even with the body.

Make the drawing to be sure - good luck.

Dave