T-Style neck joint problems

[Steve Crawford]

Hello for the first time to you all...

I'm building my first T-Style guitar from a nice single piece of swamp ash, I've been working to a template and set of plans based closely on the original; everything is fine so far (apart from a little wood tear in the neck pickup rout, but that's under the pick-guard so will be ok).

I decided to buy in a 'cost-effective neck (made in far east) as making this would be a little too ambitious for me at the moment. The neck is a really nicely made Canadian maple one (quality is very surprising for the price). However I have found it is too big for the neck pocket I've routed, so here's my quandary...

I've considered making another template from this neck itself and then using it to re-rout the pocket. But would you advise thinning down the neck join itself, or make the neck pocket larger? I would appreciate any advice or suggestions.

Cheers,

Steve

[Greg Robinson]

Steve, I'd recommend routing the neck pocket to fit the neck you have on hand. Shaving down the neck would probably be a lot more work, and you could mess with the taper if you're not careful.
Good luck either way!

[Eric Baack]

how much interference are you talking about? I'd probably route out the neck pocket myself instead of messing with the neck.

[Steve Crawford]

Thanks for the comments guys I'll post pictures soon.

Cheers, Steve

[Steve Crawford]

I did re-rout the neck pocket, and it basically meant I had to make a custom template and it resulted in removing a 'smidge' more material at each side, probably 2-3 mm in total. Here's how it's starting to come together...
Swamp Ash Body, Canadian Maple one-piece neck, Wilkinson Bridge pickup, Warman 'Hot' chrome neck pickup, Seco Ashtray Bridge, Wilkinson machine heads, Seco electrics. Body will be finished in clear vintage amber tinted nitro.

.

Any comments or suggestions appreciated.

Cheers, Steve

[Robert Smallwood]

Lookin' good. The body should come up beautifully under your finish.

[Eric Baack]

Nice work!

we learn a lot when we make mistakes don't we?

[Markku Nyytäjä]

Looks classic. That ash would look nice just with clearcoat too.

[John Catto]

we learn a lot when we make mistakes don't we?

Well, fitting the body to the neck isn't a mistake, it's just guitar building!

The heel width on Fenders is always the big lurking problem. It's the one spec that Fender should have changed on the very first revision back in '51. Instead it's the one thing they never changed, even with different models. It's too narrow on a Tele leading to the strings always being a bit to close to the edge and even worse on a Strat where they decided to make the bridge spacing even wider. Add in vintage radius and you'll spend your life pulling on the neck trying to keep the high E from falling off.

On all the next generation bolt-ons Charvel, Suhr, Anderson etc. it's the one spec they all change. Nothing wrong with Fender's neck width at the nut but you're always better off with more at the heel. Ideally enough to keep the high/low E spacing from the edge consistant over the length of the neck.

Your Tele looks great BTW!

[Mark Swanson]

John sure has that one right!

[Steve Crawford]

Thanks for the comments (and compliments) guys. Building guitars is always a learning experience.

Cheers, Steve