Lite Ash Telecaster MIK nonstandard neck pocket?

[Marymurrah]

Hello, new to the forum. Please let me know if this isn’t the right board.

I’ve got the body of a Lite Ash Telecaster and I’ve done my best to measure (beginner here) the length, width, and depth of the pocket. I called warmoth with the measurements I had and was told no warmoth necks fit.

Does anyone have experience with either the Lite Ash Stratocaster or the Lite Ash Telecaster? I have a completely busted Strat I’m using for parts on a mint strat, and then this tele body looking for a neck. So yes I’m obsessed with this line of guitars.

Do I really need to keep hunting for an orphaned neck?

Someone on reddit is saying he was buying a standard thin tele neck from warmoth and I got excited until he replied he was bolting it onto a warmoth body (nothing against warmoth, just not what I need )

 

[stratamania]

Welcome to the forum.

Here is a link where you can see the dimensions of a Warmoth heel etc so you can compare.

https://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Bodies/Options/GuitarNeckPocket.aspx

 

[Fat Pete]

If the neck has 22 frets, but no 'overhang' at the end of the fingerboard, then it's not just whether a replacement neck fits in the pocket, but also the likelihood that it would not intonate correctly.

 

[PhilHill]

Welcome to the Forum. Always glad to hear from new members. Korean or sometimes Japanese made parts intended for their Fender instruments will often differ in their dimensions to USA or Mexican made Fender guitars. You may have to seek out an Asian made neck if your Tele was manufactured there. The other choice is to have the pocket on the Tele rerouted to fit a USA sized neck, which I suspect is not what you would want to get into.

 

[Rick]

You may have to adopt an orphan.  Ebay has these, just have to keep an eye out.

 

[Marymurrah]

If the neck has 22 frets, but no 'overhang' at the end of the fingerboard, then it's not just whether a replacement neck fits in the pocket, but also the likelihood that it would not intonate correctly.

Yes, thanks for this reply. I can’t tell from photos if this Lite Ash Telecaster is supposed to have an overhang or not. I’m suspecting NOT. So, doesn’t that rule out all warmoth necks?

 

[vetteman]

My experience has been that no two necks have exactly the same dimension.  These are wooden parts, finished by hand and some variance occurs.  Been pretty common to have to 'massage' a neck pocket to get it to fit just right.  Usually a bit of light sanding with a squared block is all it will take.

 

[Marymurrah]

I appreciate all of the replies here. So, I’ve found the following measurements on my body after several attempts at measuring.

Width: 56mm
Depth: 18mm
Length: 77mm


Am I out of luck here? Should I skip a pickguard if I’m really desperate?

 

[mayfly]

From what I see, and YOU NEED TO VERIFY THIS FOR YOURSELF, everything looks in the ball park except the depth of the pocket.  From your measurements, your pocket is too deep by 18-16 = 2mm.

If I were presented with this body and was told "make it work with a warmoth neck", here's what I would think on:

1 - can I get some really good measurements of the pocket with a set of callipers?  Don't trust the customer
2 - can I make the geometry work with a vintage (no overhang) neck and still get a reasonable action? 
2.5 - Will the bridge go down by the required 2mm?
3 - can I make/buy a shim that's 2mm thick and just use whatever neck?
4 - can I use one of those stu-mac shims and get the angle so that things will fit?
5 - does the radius of the heel end match a strat, a tele, or some strange-ass thing?  If not, then it would be time to get out the router templates and the pattern bit.

I'm sure it can be done.  But you need to apply a little geometry to your thoughts :icon_thumright:

 

[Marymurrah]

From what I see, and YOU NEED TO VERIFY THIS FOR YOURSELF, everything looks in the ball park except the depth of the pocket.  From your measurements, your pocket is too deep by 18-16 = 2mm.

If I were presented with this body and was told "make it work with a warmoth neck", here's what I would think on:

1 - can I get some really good measurements of the pocket with a set of callipers?  Don't trust the customer
2 - can I make the geometry work with a vintage (no overhang) neck and still get a reasonable action? 
2.5 - Will the bridge go down by the required 2mm?
3 - can I make/buy a shim that's 2mm thick and just use whatever neck?
4 - can I use one of those stu-mac shims and get the angle so that things will fit?
5 - does the radius of the heel end match a strat, a tele, or some strange-ass thing?  If not, then it would be time to get out the router templates and the pattern bit.

I'm sure it can be done.  But you need to apply a little geometry to your thoughts :icon_thumright:

This is spot on! My boyfriend is an engineer and helped with these measurements. We found the depth to be the sticking point. Even without a pickguard, an overhang is problematic.

I have never heard of a shim before, so thank you for pointing me in that direction.

I have a three saddle, ash tray style bridge and will start looking into the action question.

 

[stratamania]

In addition to considerations of overhangs it is where the neck pocket is along the length of the body in relation to the bridge and consequently the scale length.

Try measuring also the distance from the back of the neck pocket to the bridge, if this is not the same as standard Warmoth/Fender specs a standard neck will not intonate which means it will not play in tune.

Another alternative is to buy a Warmoth neck, pickguard and Tele body and just swap the hardware across that you have which is more likely to fit.

 

[mayfly]

Having said that, it is possible to modify the neck pocket to accommodate incorrect string length.  I did it on my 'cheap thrills tele'.  Modification thread is here: https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=28082.60

 

[mayfly]

From what I see, and YOU NEED TO VERIFY THIS FOR YOURSELF, everything looks in the ball park except the depth of the pocket.  From your measurements, your pocket is too deep by 18-16 = 2mm.

If I were presented with this body and was told "make it work with a warmoth neck", here's what I would think on:

1 - can I get some really good measurements of the pocket with a set of callipers?  Don't trust the customer
2 - can I make the geometry work with a vintage (no overhang) neck and still get a reasonable action? 
2.5 - Will the bridge go down by the required 2mm?
3 - can I make/buy a shim that's 2mm thick and just use whatever neck?
4 - can I use one of those stu-mac shims and get the angle so that things will fit?
5 - does the radius of the heel end match a strat, a tele, or some strange-ass thing?  If not, then it would be time to get out the router templates and the pattern bit.

I'm sure it can be done.  But you need to apply a little geometry to your thoughts :icon_thumright:

This is spot on! My boyfriend is an engineer and helped with these measurements. We found the depth to be the sticking point. Even without a pickguard, an overhang is problematic.

I have never heard of a shim before, so thank you for pointing me in that direction.

I have a three saddle, ash tray style bridge and will start looking into the action question.

Very cool.  I'm starting to think that the 2mm shim is your best bet.  Please keep us posted!

 

[Marymurrah]

Thanks Mayfly.

We were perplexed by comment number 5 re: the radius. Could you dumb it down a little bit more?


I’m thinking the shim is the best bet here.  I really appreciate everyone’s thoughts here!

 

[Marymurrah]

Having said that, it is possible to modify the neck pocket to accommodate incorrect string length.  I did it on my 'cheap thrills tele'.  Modification thread is here: https://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=28082.60

Just reading through this while “at work” very fun to read, thanks for sharing. Yes, I think my situation qualifies for “what the !?$& was I thinking when I bought this body”

 

[mayfly]

Thanks Mayfly.

We were perplexed by comment number 5 re: the radius. Could you dumb it down a little bit more?


I’m thinking the shim is the best bet here.  I really appreciate everyone’s thoughts here!

Sure thing.  I'm thinking of the shape of the neck pocket right at the heel.  There are two common shapes: a telecaster shape and a strat shape.  Here's a  drawing lifted from the warmoth site:

You can see that the strat heel is kind of rounded, and the tele heel is flat, but with rounded corners.  I was worried that the radius of those rounded corners might be different from standard with your body.

 

[Marymurrah]

Thanks Mayfly.

We were perplexed by comment number 5 re: the radius. Could you dumb it down a little bit more?


I’m thinking the shim is the best bet here.  I really appreciate everyone’s thoughts here!

Sure thing.  I'm thinking of the shape of the neck pocket right at the heel.  There are two common shapes: a telecaster shape and a strat shape.  Here's a  drawing lifted from the warmoth site:

You can see that the strat heel is kind of rounded, and the tele heel is flat, but with rounded corners.  I was worried that the radius of those rounded corners might be different from standard with your body.

Thanks, that’s what I thought you were talking about.  From my eyes, it’s a square pocket. How could I measure this more effectively?

“We” have a lot of tools, hoping “we” already have something to measure. I say “we” because these are all my boyfriend’s tools! Something fun for us to work on together.

Thanks again Mayfly and all.