Fitment issues

[Kavooch]

Recently received a body and neck. It's taken about 2 months for me to receive all the parts for this build. After finishing the body myself and installing all the parts, the neck fitment is way too high. I can't adjust the saddles high enough for the strings to clear the frets. It's basically unplayable. I took a bunch of pictures and have sent them to Warmoth comparing their product with my American Fender stratocasters and it's blatantly obvious that something isn't right. Regardless, it seems as if Warmoth is dismissing my issues. Any thoughts?

 

[Rick]

Hard to say.  Have you brought it to your local guitar tech for an evaluation?  What’s the neck pocket look like with the neck off.  What were your set up procedures.  Take some measurements.  Take pics of the pocket with neck off.  What screws are you using.  Is the neck pocket angled.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Does your body have an angled neck pocket?

 

[PhilHill]

From the first two pictures, it looks like the neck is sitting way too high in the pocket. The neck is mounted, there's a pick guard on there, but the fretboard overhang is still way up off the guard. I would take the neck off and measure the depth of the pocket, should be 5/8ths if it's standard. It could be the angle of the photo, but the neck looks high to me.................. :headbang:

 

[mayfly]

It's either too high, or you've got an angled neck pocket. 

 

[stratamania]

It looks too high to me also. Though there is not enough data to determine specifically why.

This type of thing is a good example of why to do a dry fit of parts prior to assembly.

 

[amon]

Trim router and five minutes.

 

[Logrinn]

Trim router and five minutes.

Sounds very extreme.
If you’re not used to working with a router you might damage the body. Both the guitar body and your own body.

Also, these types of threads pop up from time to time and I feel that there’s always a perfectly natural explanation to the issue.
Like the body not being a Warmoth body but some type of Fender body, ie one that can have any neck pocket depth.
Or as had been stated, the body have been ordered with an angled neck pocket.
Or there are paint residue left that can tilt the neck in the pocket (pretty common).
Or something else that could explain it.

We haven’t seen a measurement of the neck pocket or the neck. We haven’t seen a picture of the neck pocket or the heel of the neck.
In short, we’re lacking data like Stratamania says.

 

[amon]

Nonetheless, it's fixable.  In the amount of time it took to take pictures and post a thread, it could have been fixed.

 

[NedRyerson]

The placement of the side dots is strange.  Take measurements of both the heel and the pocket to see if one or the other (or both) is out of spec.  If return isn't an option, then it's time to push up the sleeves and fire up some power tools.  Despite the lack of context, my first instinct is that it can be fixed.

I'm certainly no expert luthier or woodworker, but with what I have done so far, I see a situation like this as a worthy challenge. Granted, it sucks that after laying out several hundred dollars and months of time that something arrives that isn't perfect, but I don't think it's insurmountable.

 

[Re-Pete]

The only thing I could add is to go to the Warmoth website and check out their neck pocket specs.
Then compare what your body has.

 

[NotImpressedBro]

I had this happen to me with my 2ND Strat build with a vintage neck.  I rock a two-point Tremolo and I had to adjust it to sit about 1/8'' above the body as a temporary fix.  When I went through setup I had to of course remove the neck multiple times (heel truss rod adjustment) and I realized that I had to be careful to tighten all neck mounting screws as evenly as possible.  And the neck plate could shift and actually exacerbate the issue.  Now I've gotten the bridge back down (almost) to the body and figured out a specific sequence to align and tighten the neck screws and plate down. This was not a surprise, as I opted to go with a cheap neck first to get some reps at working through issues.  I can only imagine your frustration right now with an expensive one.

I eventually ordered a Warmoth neck, and it arrives this weekend.  If I have the same issue, I'll adjust the neck pocket.  I doubt that, however.  The vintage replacement neck is a real chunky sonofagun.

 

[strat714]

I had the same problem. I took it apart and found that my pickguard needed to be trimmed. it was hanging over the neck pocket enough to create an angle to the neck. The screws still lined up, but wouldn't completely seat the neck to the pocket. One more thing that you can check. I hope you can resolve your issue.

 

[mayfly]

Good point that. 

Actually to help us out, can you take some photos of the guitar with the neck off the body?  I for one would like to see the neck pocket to see if there is any junk down in there.  A good clear shot of the heel of the neck would also be good to see.

 

[vetteman]

Probably not worth mentioning, but make sure the neck screws do not thread thru the body but will push thru the holes.  If it does thread thru the body you can tighten the screws and still not fully seat the neck.  The cure is just to drill the holes in the body a touch larger than the screw diameter at the threaded portion.

 

[Rick]

Since no response think it is a troll.

 

[stratamania]

Probably also worth mentioning that the OP with a post count of 1 and since then 2 others with a post count so far of 1 have mentioned something and then not participated further.

I consider it a troll also...

 

[NotImpressedBro]

I was hoping someone would come out with a really good how-to on this.  I've done some research on MY situation.

My neck pocket is only 15.mm in depth. According to Warmoth's own specs, I'm going to be a mm high with my neck which arrives TODAY.  It's on the delivery truck as I type here, can't wait!  That being said, I need to figure out the best way to take 1mm out of my neck pocket... evenly.  I have a router, but am inexperienced with it so I am not going to attempt that method. Fortunately, I have a new Gotoh bridge coming in tomorrow, so I am forced to be patient in putting it together.  I lifted the mounting studs from my old 2-point Fender AM Standard bridge, so I can't assemble it today anyways.  I could always just ride my 2-pt. tremolo a little higher to compensate - as I previously had - but I know I can make it better.

Just to add clarity, my body is a 2 piece Alder strat body that I got from a Vet owned company called SupraTone. It came to me raw and I did all the finishing myself for fun.

 

[mayfly]

To me, 1mm is close enough that I would just try it and see how well it worked.  If it does stick up too much, then I would use a router with a pattern bit to make the pocket a bit deeper.  Use a SHARP bit, measure several times before starting, and go slowly and carefully.  The routerbeast is very unforgiving. 

I've done this kind of thing in the past and the best method is to put the router in a router table and route with the body flipped over.  I've got pics of a build that I used this technique on that I'll include a link to in a bit.

Update: Here is the link:
https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=28082.75

 

[NotImpressedBro]

Thanks so much for the response!  My package just arrived, the wife just let me know.  I just have to bear through the rest of the day at the office before getting home to it.  I know when I seat it, I should have 3mm from the body to the underside of the fretboard overhang.  I can post what I find when I check that this afternoon.

If it comes down to it, I will do some routing practice on some wood I don't care about before committing.  I worked hard on this build before I knew about Warmoth, and got it to the point that tone-wise it's my number 1.  I have an Elite Telecaster (2017) that plays like a dream and I'm trying to match that level of playability on it.

Just to clarify, I'm NOT A TROLL.  I'm a player who prefers to build his own perfect guitar.  I'm on my second build, after making many of the usual mistakes on my first (cheap) trial run.  I just wanted to highjack this thread because it's applicable to where I'm at right now.  I've been lurking here for a while, reading on Cagey and Stratamania's beautiful builds.