Assembling a Strat

Mark1960

Hi Folks - Does anybody know the type of "fit" required when bolting a neck onto a Strat. I have recently bought a kit, with a pre drilled neck and body, and was expecting (I don't know why) an "interferance fit", however the fit is loose, and the four screws will effectively keep the neck in place. Should I shim up between the body and neck, or are the four screws adequate?

Thanks for your comments

sweepy

What dimensions are your neck pocket and neck ?

Mark1960

I dont have the guitar with me at present, but the neck is around 1mm - 2mm narrower than the pocket, and I feel it should be a tight fit, but am not sure hence the question

sweepy

You could use some thin wooden sheet from a modelshop to shim the pocket, 

Mark1960

So I take it it needs to be shimmed to a close fit to give extra stability to the joint.

Thanks for the reply

Winny_Pooh

It won't make a difference stability wise, more from a cosmetic standpoint. It's only an issue if you pull the neck to adjust the high & low e to be correct, then find it moving later. But that can be avoided with sandpaper in the neck pocket. 

Funkfingers

Winny_Pooh said:

It's only an issue if you pull the neck to adjust the high & low e to be correct

Given the indifferent fit of the neck into the body, the chances are that the accuracy of other routing and drilling could equally casual.

The OP may end up relying on neck pocket slop to get everything else to align correctly.

Mark1960

Funkfingers said:

Winny_Pooh said:

It's only an issue if you pull the neck to adjust the high & low e to be correct

Given the indifferent fit of the neck into the body, the chances are that the accuracy of other routing and drilling could equally casual.

The OP may end up relying on neck pocket slop to get everything else to align correctly.

Agreed. What I intend to do is set the neck in the correct position (using the centre line of the bridge and nut) and shim both sides accordingly, then screw the neck on, to ensure the geometry is correct.