Putting a neck into a slightly deeper neck pocket

[amayce]

Hi all!

I've been thinking of upgrading the neck of my SX brand Strat ($80 guitar pack from Amazon 10+ years ago, came with the amp, dvd on how to play, the whole deal). I've already put a Carvin loaded pick guard in it, and have GuitarFetish locking staggered tuners and trem unit installed. Was thinking of a Roasted Maple neck because I love the feel of unfinished/oiled necks over anything satin or lacquer, so I pulled the old neck off today just to measure and make sure it's up to snuff.

Everything matches perfectly, except that the drilled neck pocket is 1mm deeper than "Fender" spec. I can see it too, because the pick guard currently overlaps where the neck would be by about that much too. That's not a huge deal, except that if I want the 22 fret, I'm going to have to solve that problem because the fretboard won't hang over properly.

I figure my two options are to go get a 1mm thick piece of wood and shim the neck, or to shave off a bit of the pick guard. What would you guys do? I feel like I'd rather muck up a pick guard over possibly mess up a good neck angle. It's a beater guitar; I'd rather have it look a little ugly on the pick guard (which it already does because we had to Dremel the trem cutaway) than make it less playable.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[Steve_Karl]

I agree that trimming the pickguard is the best option, but you might not have to trim anything.

My last build has between 4 and 5 mm of clearance between the overhang and the top of the body.
No pickguard on mine. It's a rear route.

 

[vetteman]

I ordered a Warmoth body with the .720 mod (deeper than standard neck pocket depth) and ended up not using the depth because of the pickup choice I made.  To remedy the problem I just found a small date planner book with a black plastic cover and crafted a flat spacer to raise the neck height.  Luckily I found tone plastic, as the guitar sounds just fine.

 

[amayce]

I agree that trimming the pickguard is the best option, but you might not have to trim anything.

My last build has between 4 and 5 mm of clearance between the overhang and the top of the body.
No pickguard on mine. It's a rear route.

I'll be hopeful, but the current pick guard (3 ply) is higher than where the rosewood starts on my current fretboard, which leads me to believe that it's probably gonna chafe up against it, so I think it's gonna happen.

 

[stratamania]

You might also consider shimming in case it is needed to achieve correct alignment and height with the bridge. Trimming the pickguard won't help if that is the case.

 

[amayce]

You might also consider shimming in case it is needed to achieve correct alignment and height with the bridge. Trimming the pickguard won't help if that is the case.

The current neck angle seems to be pretty good, though I'm just eyeballing it right now.

 

[stratamania]

You might also consider shimming in case it is needed to achieve correct alignment and height with the bridge. Trimming the pickguard won't help if that is the case.

The current neck angle seems to be pretty good, though I'm just eyeballing it right now.

Well not just the angle, but will your bridge adjust low enough without the shim?

You have a few things dependent on height and angles.

 

[amayce]

You might also consider shimming in case it is needed to achieve correct alignment and height with the bridge. Trimming the pickguard won't help if that is the case.

The current neck angle seems to be pretty good, though I'm just eyeballing it right now.

Well not just the angle, but will your bridge adjust low enough without the shim?

You have a few things dependent on height and angles.

The current neck is exact to specs and up until the warping it's been doing in the past 6 months, the bridge saddles have been fine, so I think the new neck will be okay.