Issues with connecting a MIJ So Cal body and USA San Dimas neck?

[vklobucar]

So I am building a parts mutt and have a MIJ So Cal body and a USA San Dimas neck. The neck is ever too wide for the body cavity.

Do I enlarge the body or shave the sides of the neck?

With a belt sander or what?

[Rich#6]

by how much? I would sand out the body's neck pocket. It could just be the thickness of the paint. I would use some fine or higher grit and take your time by hand or a sanding block. same number of times on each side unless there is something that stands out.

[DonP]

Agreed. Do the body not the neck. Some guy on ebay is trying to sell a bastartized old Charvel neck were someone sanded it down for 2 3/16". Sad.

[vklobucar]

By just a touch really....I'll use some light paper on a block.

Thanks!

[ginsambo]

Agreed. Do the body not the neck. Some guy on ebay is trying to sell a bastartized old Charvel neck were someone sanded it down for 2 3/16". Sad.

x2. Never sand a neck..ever.

The advantage of doing the body is that:

1) You can often get a better fit than the factory, because you don't have a boss breathing down your neck and quotas to fill
2) You can provide for a tenth mm gap all round, in case your neck expands in the humidity or your body shrinks with dry heating in winter or continued seasoning and you know then the paint won't chip when it does.

I use sandpaper on files, then files, that way you can get in and remove a lot of wood first before doing the mating faces. Hardest bit is the the heel where i use round files for the corners. Never pull up with sandpaper or a file against the paint, always use down strokes or go in line with it. Keep an eye out that you don't take too much off the ends of the body rout and go equal both sides depending on neck alignment and check often.

Surprised this happened, would have thought it was more likely other way around.

[sully]

Personally, I’d do the neck. The neck heel is a completely flat surface and you don’t have to take the corners of the neck pocket into consideration. You also don’t have to worry about having some sort of freak sanding accident where your hand slips and you sand the finish accidentally. Granted, caution wins the race, but a couple of swipes on the side of the neck is less risky.

Sully

[sully]

I use sandpaper on files, then files, that way you can get in and remove a lot of wood first before doing the mating faces. Hardest bit is the the heel where i use round files for the corners. Never pull up with sandpaper or a file against the paint, always use down strokes or go in line with it. Keep an eye out that you don't take too much off the ends of the body rout and go equal both sides depending on neck alignment and check often.

...or you can swipe each sides of the heel with a couple of passes of a perfectly flat sanding block and be done with it.

[ginsambo]

Yeah...that too. I was more thinking about the 2 3/16 to 2 1/4 conversions I've done that took 3 days worth of sanding.
Can you rout poly paint ok or does it splinter or delaminate? I see it drill ok with a metal bit without cracking, but is that cause it heats up first?

I have bad memories of impatiently filing out the trem cavity a bit on a guitar with a bad cloudy clearcoat as the trem bar was sticking and the clear all chipped off the front, but you wouldn't has noticed with the floyd in place but then I tryed to mask it by lifting it up and spraying some black acrylic under it, but then it capillerised under the clear and then it really was noticeable. Also I have a USA wildcard which has a paint chip/crack right on the corner of the heel where, I think, the body has shrunk. Those bodies do shrink, especially the usa's, either that or the necks swell. I have a perfectly fitting USA body and neck pulled them apart, went back to refit them a couple of weeks later and it wouldn't have it at all.

I wouldn't be sanding a USA neck for the sole reason that they are fetching $350+ all day long these days if you do change your mind or fit it on another body in the future. But if you are anything like me, you'll never let it go anyway, so what the hell. Anyway if it all goes tits up, you can always just get another Jap pro mod body?

[sully]

I don’t really do a whole ton of repair work; most of what I do is new construction, so there’s no paint involved when the router is out. That said, Warmoth will sell painted bodies that aren’t fully routed, and rout cavities out without issue. As long as your bit is sharp, it’s going to be spinning so fast that you shouldn’t run into the paint chipping away; although I guess you could run into delamination risks. If I were routing a cavity into a painted body, I’d lay some masking tape down first (in case of chips, they’re stuck to the tape) and then I’d want to lay down some kind of barrier that would help prevent the paint from lifting around the edges. As far as drilling goes without issue; I’d say that you’d have a better chance of success because a brad point drill bit is used, which produces a cleaner hole, and is sharper than a standard bit.

I hear ya on not wanting to mess with a USA neck; I’m a firm believer in modding the least expensive part. I guess that I’m coming from a new construction angle; I have a stack of bodies waiting for necks, and if the neck is a little too wide, I’ll take the neck down a bit. Faster and much less risk.

[vklobucar]

All it took was a few passes of the sanding block and the neck is in and nice and snug.

But now.....

Is it my imagination or is the angle higher than my MIJ So Cal.

Can I re-route the neck pocket at a slight angle to fix that? Already the MIJ So Cal's sit higher than I would like.

[Rich#6]

you sure the neck is not getting stuck still.

[vklobucar]

Nope!

neck is well seated and all screws and well installed.

The angle however is BEYOND high now! This floyd would sit like an inch of the body....

Re route the neck pocket?

[sully]

Yeah, you can go that route. At this point, I'd mod the body instead of the neck due to dollar value.
I'd recommend the 3/8" bit that Stewmac sells; that's the one that I use for neck pockets.

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Routing_bits/Ball_Bearing_Router_Bits.html?actn=100101&xst=3&xsr=741

You can put some rails on the body and add a 1.5 degree angle; 3/4" MDF would work, as would Baltic Birch plywood (as long as it's around 3/4" thick). You won't need a neck pocket template, because the bearing will ride on the walls of the existing pocket.

Sully

[vklobucar]

Thanks Sully!

I might have to give that a go..

[sully]

If you do, and want a little assistance, I'm pretty much in Frisco, neighbor.

Sully