Just bought a 1996 Warmoth Tele body - the neck pocket is a little wierd? Ideas?

[mojotron]

I just bought an old Warmoth Tele body - it was made in 1996. I noticed a couple of things that I wondered if there was a common experience or if possibly an option 13 years ago from Warmoth. Here's the 2 things I had noticed:

1) I noticed that my Fender (2008 Highway-one) neck fit, but it was really tight in the pocket. So I measured the neck and the body and found that the fender neck was 1/64" wider than the body and the Fender specs for a tele neck - as well as my other Warmoth Strat necks - I'm wondering if any of you ran into the same thing - perhaps the really tight fit is OK? There's some stress cracks in the finish around the neck pocket.

- this was the first finished warmoth body I had worked with and the neck pocket is lightly clear-coated with poly - so I think this could be resolved with some light sanding, but I was wondering if anyone else had this problem with newer Fender necks?

2) The neck pocket has a hole for wires in the lower bottom corner - that goes 1/4" into the bottom of the neck pickup cavity, and the neck pocket is about 3/32" longer than the standard Tele body - being 3 3/32" instead of 3". So, the end of the neck and body have a gap of 3/32" instead of being flush. I'm just wondering if there was an option back in 1996 for this extra long neck pocket and it's something I should not fill - in or modify for some reason?

- Also, what do you guys think would be the best way to fill this 3/32" gap between the body and the end of the neck?
- I was thinking of cutting out a maple shim 3/32" wide and 5/8" tall to fill the gap then glue it in there, but perhaps it would be better to make a shim that is a bit thicker and use a router/straight-edge to get the neck pocket to 3" - I'm not concerned about the finish since it already has a few dings - I just want the best tone from the finished job.

Ideas?

BTW - I got a great deal on this body - the grain/finish and tone with this body is excellent! I'm pretty excited to resolve these couple of issues and get on to playing this...

Thanks,
Mike

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

- Also, what do you guys think would be the best way to fill this 3/32" gap between the body and the end of the neck?
- I was thinking of cutting out a maple shim 3/32" wide and 5/8" tall to fill the gap then glue it in there, but perhaps it would be better to make a shim that is a bit thicker and use a router/straight-edge to get the neck pocket to 3" - I'm not concerned about the finish since it already has a few dings - I just want the best tone from the finished job.

Rather than fill the gap, I would drill and hardwood dowel the existing neck holes.  I would then mark and drill new neck holes.  Surely 3/32 can be made up in the saddles and still intonate correctly.  If unsure, intonate all of the strings with everything like it is now and then measure the intonation adjust screws between the saddle and the end of the bridge.  If you've got plenty, I'd do that.

 

[mojotron]

... I would drill and hardwood dowel the existing neck holes. ...

I thought about that too, that is a great idea and there is plenty of play in the bridge for intonation - the thing I would like to do is to keep my necks portable to other bodies. Since this is really a body issue - I would like to fix it on the body.

Thanks anyway - that would clearly be the easiest fix with likely the best result - but I don't want to change the neck.

 

[mayfly]

I don't have an answer for the neck pocket (except that maybe the original owner painted the inside of the pocket  and increased it's depth at the same time to fit a funky neck s/he had), but the little hole is warmoth's way of drilling the wires for the neck pickup.  The use a long drill and drill through the pickup cavity through to the control cavity - originating from the neck pocket.  It's nothing to worry about.

I personally would not worry about the little gap at the end of the pocket.

 

[dbw]

The tight fit is normal.

The gap I'm not sure about... is this a tele neck or a strat neck?

 

[NonsenseTele]

Why about post a pic, to help guys here?
Welcome to the forum!  ccasion14: