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
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