neck screws

[Gripths]

hey guys, im working on building a project guitar and i just got in my neck plate/gasket and screws. My question is how far into the heel of the neck should the screws penetrate? The ones i have seem like they will penetrate about a half inch into the heel, or a little bit less then that. Is that ok? I know the neck placement/alignment is going to be one of the most crucial parts of this whole project, and don't want to mess it up. Thanks alot guys.
-ryan

[sully]

depends on how much of a neck heel you have on the body of the guitar. is it countoured at all or flat like a strat?

[Gripths]

Its flat, the body is a RX10D

[sully]

offhand, i'd say that after going through the body, it'll go into the neck about 1/4". just to be on the safe side, put the neck in the pocket and put the screw on the side of it, so you can see how far it'll actually go in. too far, and it's coming through the fretboard. those things are all relatively standard, so as long as the neck heel isn't contoured, you'll be fine.

[charvelguy]

If I'm using non stock parts.. I go half the distance of the heel before the fretboard. Typical Jackson neck .. about 1/4-3/8". I ran into this just the other day when I went from taking parts off a strat neck on a strat body to a contour heel on a Jackson body with a Jackson neck. If I would have put those screws in... they would have bit into the fretboard on the Jackson with using a flat plate w/no gasket..

the way Sully mentions is fine.. good to gauge the depth first.

[Deneb]

1/4 inch and you're golden.

[mm2002]

1/4"???? Are you guys serious? I personally wouldn't be comfortable with that at all. You'll barely have two threads in the neck, plus you'll be lucky if you don't strip out the neck holes when tightening the bolts. Go at least 7/16", but 1/2" is perfect. I think most Charvels and Jacksons have around 1/2".

[JCTommie]

If you see screws sticking out the fretboard, you've gone too far.

[Model1VH2]

I gotta agree with Mark ... 1/4" wouldn't make me feel very comfortable either. A 1/4" is typically what I leave between the screws and the fretboard.

[Racerx2k]

1/4"???? Are you guys serious? I personally wouldn't be comfortable with that at all. You'll barely have two threads in the neck, plus you'll be lucky if you don't strip out the neck holes when tightening the bolts. Go at least 7/16", but 1/2" is perfect. I think most Charvels and Jacksons have around 1/2".

I agree. That sounds like not nearly enough meat. I'd go with 1/2", roughly. I'll have to check the neck on my project, now.

Yup, just took a depth measurement, and it came in at 1/2", on the money.