Robert Cray hardtail problems....

[Samhain]

I picked up a beautiful Robert cray hardtail body the other day, got it home, and I’m having fitting issues.
I’ve mounted dozens of necks to fender and vice versa and never had any issues, so this is new to me.

So, first thing, the neck I had planned for the build wouldn’t fit, Warmoth neck.
Hmmmm, never had that problem before, usually MIM bodies have “ample” neck pocket space.
I have about 8 necks laying around, all Warmoth. I managed to get a vintage/modern to fit, but, it won’t seat in as deep as it should, both into the neck cut, toward the pickups, and into the pocket itself, the neck seems to be sitting too high, which would make the bridge have to be cranked really high.
Has anyone run into this before?
Is the Robert cray model different from standard strats?
I don’t get it.

 

[VinceClortho]

I have a vague recollection that the Cray Strat had a shallower cut neck pocket.  Can you measure the depth?  The standard Strat is 5/8".

 

[Samhain]

Hmmmm, I’ll try and measure it.
It’s def shallower than a standard by a good bit.
Which sucks donkey balls.

 

[VinceClortho]

Agreed.  If you didn't want to get busy with a router, I'm sure you could stick a reverse shim in there to get it to work. 

 

[Samhain]

Reverse shim!?
What is this sorcery you speak of!?

 

[VinceClortho]

Either put a thin piece of material at the very edge of the neck side of the pocket, or use something like a StewMac neck shim and put it in the pocket backwards.  Either will tilt the neck upwards, effectively raising the strings. 

 

[Samhain]

Ahhh,
Would I be able to raise the pickups and bridge high enough?

 

[VinceClortho]

Good question.  I'm not sure.  You could give it a test fit using something like a guitar pick and see if the height works out.  It shouldn't take much.  I'd start with something like .50mm.