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Drilling neck holes


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I am about to drill the neck holes for a bolt-on project I am doing. I had the neck made for me and it came without the nut. I am almost finished with the body and I went down to the store where I get most of my setups and other work done to get them to install a nut in the neck. My thinking was to line up the neck with the two E strings installed and then mark the positions where I should drill.

However, the guy said he couldn't put a nut in it until I had the neck attached. I have Hiscock's book at home, but I don't remember what it said, if anything, in regard to this. What do you guys usually do about drilling the neck holes?

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I haven't done this myself, but,

I would suggest you tape a string where the nut would be (low tack to prevent harming the finish), and fix the other end, taut, in the middle of the bridge, or on the body centreline. Then adjust the neck so that the string crosses the 12th fret (and all of the others) in the centre, if you have dot string markers, you can go by them. Clamp the neck and drill away!

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Chicken or the Egg? :D

Unless you're dead set on drilling yourself - I may just have the shop install the nut AND the neck...let it up to them. If you make a mistake, it will cost you more in time and/or money to fix it...

If you ARE set on drilling yourself - I'd suggest installing a temporary nut - doesn't have to be fancy as long as the string spacing is correct. It could even be a piece of wood with just the E's cut into it. Using the centerline method described above will be a little difficult since you don't have a saddle in the middle position OR a tuner to align it with. Best to use the actual string angles that will be present with the guitar is complete.

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Morbden, you're kinda saying what I was thinking in that you have to have some kind of slotted nut to hold the strings in the right place. This guy at the store said to just throw a couple of tuners on the pegs, string up the E's and line it up. After driving off, I began thinking that there is no way that method would get the strings in the right place over the nut area.

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That would work, but only if you've got straight string pull from the tuner to the nut. If it deviates at all, yeah... you're not going to have your strings in the right place. A temporary nut seems like a good solution... or have the shop that seats the nut do the alignment and drilling of the holes for you.

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If you decide to do it yourself - here's what I do:

If you know where the center line is on the body and where the center line is on the neck -

1. Clamp the body (carefully) to your workbench with the neck pocket hanging off the edge.

2. Use a laser line (you can get them at a hardware store fairly cheap I think) and line it up with the body center line.

3. Clamp (carefully) the neck into the pocket and line it up with the laser line.

4. Use a drill bit in your hand and gently twist it inside the screw holes that should already be in the body. Don't apply much pressure - just enough to leave a mark.

5. Double check after marking the holes that the neck did not move (look at the laser alignment) and take it apart and drill away. Drill press recommended.

This assumes that you will line the nut and bridge up properly with the center lines as well. I've used this method for all of my guitars and haven't had a problem yet. If you can't afford the laser tool then that could be a problem. If you don't know where the center lines are, that would be a problem also. Since I build everything myself, I know where the center lines are and leave them marked for this purpose.

Just another possibility - definitely not the only way to do it.

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daveq, yeah, that sounds like it would work ( I think you posted this somewhere else because I remember the laser thing).

So, the neck was made for me - no center line and it is already fretted. The body does have a center line where the maple caps were glued together. The back was a one piece mahogany (no centerline). I assume figuring out where to mark a center line on the neck would be pretty easy, but what would be safe to mark it with (pau ferro fingerboard)?

And yeah, I will be using a drill press.

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daveq, yeah, that sounds like it would work ( I think you posted this somewhere else because I remember the laser thing).

Yes, it does work and I do think I posted it a few weeks ago maybe more. I use pencil even on ebony. It's a little hard to see but you can see the pencil very well when the laser shines over it - even with the lights off.

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usually there is enough wiggle room in a bolt on pocket to move the neck at least enough to where if you don't get it lined up right the e string on one side might at least be too close to the edge

especially if you are using templates that allow for the thickness of the finish...you see,some guys prefer to have the neck pocket sealed to prevent moisture from getting under that area and causing the paint to crack or chip.it doesn't make it sound bad...just different

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usually there is enough wiggle room in a bolt on pocket to move the neck at least enough to where if you don't get it lined up right the e string on one side might at least be too close to the edge

Not with mine.....:D

I think a good neck pocket should have a tight fit. I do mine on a milling machine. I only consider a neck/neck pocket fit perfect if you can hold the guitar at the neck WITHOUT installing screws and the body does not fall down.

I will post pictures of that soon....

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usually there is enough wiggle room in a bolt on pocket to move the neck at least enough to where if you don't get it lined up right the e string on one side might at least be too close to the edge

Not with mine.....:D

I think a good neck pocket should have a tight fit. I do mine on a milling machine. I only consider a neck/neck pocket fit perfect if you can hold the guitar at the neck WITHOUT installing screws and the body does not fall down.

I will post pictures of that soon....

yeah i kow...alot of people do it just that way...but others believe completely sealing the neck pocket and heel are more important

just different strokes i guess...i may never build a bolt on

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The issue is not whether the neck moves side to side (it should not) - but the angle of the neck. Even on a tight pocket, you can install the neck at an angle if you're not careful. When I build mine, I do not have such a tight pocket that I can't move the neck at all. Like Wes said, some people do things differently.

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As it turns out, I had to set a neck without a nut once before.

* With the neck clamped to the body, I put the 1st and 6th strings on as if the nut was there.

* I added just enough tension to the strings to make them not slack.

* Eyeball where they would be if the nut was there

* Capo at the first fret to hold them.

* Set neck as usuall.

This was actually pretty accurate. When I put the nut in place (the one I used was preslotted), I just had to slide it into position. POOF!

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Howdy,

I don't know about the guy who told you that you HAVE to locate the neck first, and then the nut. I always do the nut first, put it in the slot, attach to the body and run some string for measurement purposes. Having said that, all I do to the nut is rough it out, it is not final cut.

Just my $.02

Guitar Ed

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I think the method you choose really depends on what you've already done. If you have already located the bushings for you bridge and you are about to drill the holes for the neck, the method I described will work fine and will be very accurate. I also have the nut installed before drilling.

I think someone was confused about what exactly was being lined up - side to side positioning is not what is at issue (at least not for me). When the neck is in the pocket, you can still pivot the neck by pushing sideways on the peghead. Maybe if the pocket has a lot of wood on both sides of the neck, it won't move much. For mine, there isn't a lot of wood on the high E side of the pocket which allows for a pivoting action. That's why I use the laser to align it.

I don't know how much rotation/pivoting will result in a guitar that will not play correctly or not intonate but I like to reduce the possibility for error as much as I can. So to sum it up, a tight pocket doesn't always mean it's aligned properly and I think it's worth checking before drilling. I hope that clears up any confusion on the purpose of lining the neck up before drilling - let me know if not.

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but others believe completely sealing the neck pocket and heel are more important

Interesting....what do you mean by sealing?

sealing from moisture...you finish the neck all the way to the heel and seal the neck pocket itself with a thin coat of sealer...most major manufacturers have everything sealed,including the neck pocket

i understand this is extremely important if you are doing a swirl

but i am not a big fan of sealed neck pockets...i am just relating what i know

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Hey thanks for everyone's input.

My situation is exactly as Daveq put it, you can move the neck a bit by pushing on the peghead.

Guitar_ed - that is what I thought too, but the guy I talked didn't want to do it that way.

You guys have definitely kept this project from going down the crapper on numerous occasions - I appreciate it.

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