Raise the bridge or lower the water?

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Robert Haines
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:42 pm

Raise the bridge or lower the water?

Post by Robert Haines »

I recently bought a mid-1960s Kay solid-body guitar body and a similar-vintage Kay solid-body bolt-on neck which I got to build-up together.

I first wrote both sellers to ask them to measure the widths of the neck pocket and the heel of the neck, and both measurements they reported were the same, so I pulled the trigger.

As it happened, even though both were accurate, the neck is slightly too wide to fit the pocket, so the sides of one or the other are going to have to be slightly reduced to accommodate the other. Should I sand-down the sides of the heel? -or sand-out the sides of the pocket? FWIW, the neck is maple and the body appears to be poplar or some other fairly soft wood.

Perhaps more troubling is the fact that the 3 screw-holes don't quite line-up between the two. The pattern and spacing appear identical, but the heel end of the neck appears to be about 1/4" too long (or the inside end of the pocket is 1/4" too short) for them to line-up. The body is drilled and counter-sunk for the neck screws, so that's the one variable which cannot be changed.

That seems to leave me with 3 options:
1. Shorten the heel of the neck by 1/4" (but not cut the fretboard).
2. Extend the pocket by 1/4".
3. Fill the existing screw-holes on the neck with dowels, and drill new holes without modifying either neck or pocket.

Originality isn't a consideration; these guitars are neither rare nor expensive, and I'm heavily modifying the entire guitar anyway. Nor will intonation be an issue, since I'm not using the stock bridge location. What is a consideration is the integrity of the connection; I don't want to add any weakness to that joint.

So, which should I do? Chop-out the pocket? -chop off the end of the heel? -or plug the screw-holes on the neck and drill new ones?

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Paul Dzatko
Posts: 10
Joined: Mon Feb 17, 2020 10:30 am

Re: Raise the bridge or lower the water?

Post by Paul Dzatko »

Plug and screw!
Robert Haines
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:42 pm

Re: Raise the bridge or lower the water?

Post by Robert Haines »

The size of dowel I could fit in the existing holes would only be about 1/8". If I were to go the "plug and screw" route would you recommend first drilling-out the holes to the maximum diameter of the screws (probably just shy of 1/4"), so that the threads that have already been cut into the sides of the holes by the screws will be cleared-out? That would allow larger dowels to be used, which might give a better bite, and the dowels might have better adhesion.
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Barry Daniels
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Joined: Thu Jan 05, 2012 10:58 am
Location: The Woodlands, Texas

Re: Raise the bridge or lower the water?

Post by Barry Daniels »

Drilling out the holes will clean up the sides of the hole which will allow a better glue joint for the dowel.
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Robert Haines
Posts: 20
Joined: Thu Jan 24, 2013 4:42 pm

Re: Raise the bridge or lower the water?

Post by Robert Haines »

Thank you, Barry
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