Non Jackson Neck Fitment

[katorocks]

So I went down the worm hole and decided to build my own version of a strat guitar. I have never liked (bash me now) the design of the typical Fender Strat head stock. I have always loved the Kramer/ESP banana headstock the best. I bought a neck that at the heel was the exact size to fit the neck pocket on my seafoam body. It looks great and the neck bolts up and it is the proper scale. However the neck doesn't fit snugly against the body inside the pocket. There is a small gap (sadly I forgot to take a picture) and it is barely noticeable as the fretboard overhands like normal. Is this okay or should I be concerned? Add a shim or something? Eventually I will get the headstock painted to match and add my own custom logo

[Razor]

Picture does not load.

[katorocks]

Fixed!

[katorocks]

Hopefully someone knows something about this or else I may have to order a new neck.

[metalhobo]

where is the gap? at the sides of the pocket or at the butt?

at the sides I probably wouldn't worry about it too much. there are those who claim that you should be maximizing the surface area in the joint between the neck and body for "tonal reasons" but the reality is a bit more complicated than that. if it sounds good I would leave it be.

if the gap is at the butt then for structural reasons you'll want to reinforce it some how. no contact between the butt of the neck and the body is a weaker joint in precisely the dimension we're concerned about: compression. a shim might do the trick.

edit: just thought of another thing if the gap is at the butt: fill the holes in the neck (preferably with maple dowels and wood glue), and redrill to correct the gap. when you're buying a neck which wasn't specifically made to fit on a body, generally you don't want the neck holes pre-drilled.

[katorocks]

Took it to a local luthier and he is addressing the issues. Turns out he is going to have to plug and re-drill the neck and adjust the pocket at the back for neck fitment as the bridge was maxed out with no room for adjustment because of the gap at the butt of the neck. More money down the drain. After all of this I will have the headstock painted to match and add my logo and voila, she will be a ripper.

[JJ119]

You are following your vision, and doing it Hands On.
It looks Great!
In your talks with the Luthier, take what he // she tells you they did to fix it, and take the education from it, and possibly apply it to a future build.

I have never built a guitar. If it is anything like other hobbies, it just might be addicting!!

Looking forward to updates and completion!

[katorocks]

Well apparently the neck pocket and shape of the neck are a tad off. he is going to slightly carve out the neck pocket and things will come together. He should be done with it this week. I will post more completed pics then! I will have it all wired up and have the bridge and pickguard installed. Not going to string it up and take it for a test drive just yet as I still need to have the headstock painted and my custom decal applied.

[Razor]

Is it two different brands between the body and the neck? I know I tried a 2 and 3/16 neck heel on a Model 2 when I first wanted a strat head clone and ended up buying a proper sized Musikraft neck with a 2 and 1/4 heel width because OCD me couldn't stand the gaps on both sides of the neck pocket.

[katorocks]

Got everything fitted and ready to go. 90% done. check out my thread titled karma via charvel.