Neck Pockets

[duosonic]

Hello,

I realize this is probably trival once you have the neck installed but I was curious as to other peoples thoughts on ther choice of neck pocket cut.  It seems that Fender is the only company really using the Strat neck pocket and that most other guitar builders use a square neck pocket (or tele route neck pocket)

I'm leaning towards using the tele square neck pocket on my guitars I'm building.

Things I could see as being a positives would be:
- humbucker could be mounted flush up against the neck and look more symetrical
- original mounting could be considered as easier because the neck sits squarely in the pocket.
- potential better fit would provide better transfer and tone???

Looking for some input.  What brought this up was that I was installing a strat neck this weekend and it was sliding around before I put it in.  So I thought to myself, why am I choosing this neck route on my guitars??

Rob

 

[Cagey]

Warmoth makes replacement parts, not guitars, so they build to original spec. Because of that, it's not really up to them what kind of heel/pocket arrangements exist; they just reproduce them. It is possible to do a certain amount of mix 'n' match such as Strat heels fitting in Tele pockets, but those are side effects from the original design, not any decision on Warmoth's part.

Your neck shouldn't be swimming in the pocket, though. Are the neck and body both Warmoth parts? Because they're the only company I know of that actually builds Fender parts to blueprint. Not even Fender is reliable on that front. Although, to be fair, I haven't used a USACG neck/body part yet. I understand they're supposed to be pretty good, too.

 

[duosonic]

In this case the body is a Fender American Standard and the neck is Warmoth.  It's really not that bad of a fit.  It's fine now that it's installed.  I suppose I could have the neck sliding around with a Tele pocket route as well although I haven't had a tele slide around like I have with the Strat neck pockets.  I just ordered a strat body and so we'll see how these line up.  I'm assumming it should be snug or at least right on.

So is it safe to assume that most people just go with the standard strat neck pocket route unless they're building a tele?

 

[bagman67]

I think it's safe to say that, yes.  Most folks go with a Strat neck pocket because there are far more strat-heeled necks available to choose from.

 

[duosonic]

Now why didn't I think to check that on the main Warmoth site.  Looks like all necks come with a Strat heel except for the Telecaster neck.  But the bodies have a choice of pocket.  Hmm???

 

[Cagey]

In this case the body is a Fender American Standard and the neck is Warmoth.  It's really not that bad of a fit.  It's fine now that it's installed.  I suppose I could have the neck sliding around with a Tele pocket route as well although I haven't had a tele slide around like I have with the Strat neck pockets.  I just ordered a strat body and so we'll see how these line up.  I'm assumming it should be snug or at least right on.

So is it safe to assume that most people just go with the standard strat neck pocket route unless they're building a tele?

Well, there you go. Get out some calipers and check the neck pocket dimensions on the Fender part vs. the heel dimensions on the Warmoth part. Chances are excellent that the Fender part will be off-spec.

As far as safe choices go, the Strat is by far the most popular. Go to Warmoth's Showcase, or Mighty Mite's, or USACG's, or Stewart-McDonalds, or anybody's site that sells bodies and check the ratio between Strats and anything else they sell. Strats are usually more popular than everything else put together.