Hi,

My friend just bought a really nice new rosewood EJ Strat and while it sounds great (the best he's found ever actually) there's a small gap in the neck pocket on the treble site.

The treble E string seems to have enough room - it's not falling off of the fretboard, but it could maybe come over a little more (compared to my other Strat's including an older EJ) .

Here's a link to pictures showing the pocket alignment :
These pics should show hopefully if there's anything to worry about.

(new sarcastic line added) no matter what though this dude's gonna keep the guitar, so don't bother replying

Thanks for any info

I've a mexican strat that had the same problem from new, alas i voided the warranty many years ago. New there were no stability issues. This past 5 years it seems to work loose more frequently. The problem on your friends guitar isnt that the neck pocket is big its cut at an angle. Maybe some sawdust or something got under the body blank prior to routing slightly lifting one side.

In short if it was mine it would be going back. With experience of the problem I wouldnt accept it on a £300 guitar that i planned to keep never mind a £1300 one.

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No no and no

that completely explains the issue - becuase yes, there's extra room on that side - and the other side isn't quite flush either - so yea the pocket is too wide overall.

it's a shame because it's otherwise a great guitar - maybe all of the new EJ rosewood's sound that well - they are new so it's the only one we have really came across.

thanks for the response nikininja.

For £1300 you deserve better and if you think anything of fender guitars its your responsibility to return it. Sadly guitars are highly individual but you dont want one EXACTLY the same do you? As far as tone and playability go you should get one much the same. Upon return fender may wish to just swap the body for a new one.

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No no and no

he can fully get a refund from the local store (it's new with a 30 day trial period)

i don't know, while you'd expect a perfect pocket fit, i have been playing it and i have played a lot of Strat's and this one is just one those that you just don't come across very often - it just has that "it" quality, the woody tone - just .....

it's up to him, but if it can be determined that it won't cause any problems , i think he will keep it - but if it could cause problems i'm sure he will return it (i think he'll give up the imperfect pocket fit for the way it plays / sounds)

really tough call because he has no idea as to whether it will cause a problem later or not , it's perfect now (playing / sound wise) , thinking about it, i'd take any color or aesthetic defects over a "perfect" new Strat that just didn't play or sound as well as this one, hopefully a luthier with experience (repair) will chime in and let us know if this can cause any issues later down the line

Its not worth the risk that with wear and playing that the guitar will remain problem free for 10/20/30 years. Much better off to sort it now.

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No no and no

return that guitar I would be more pissed off about the string spacing most likely a mis-cut nut the freakin e is about off the fretboard god forbid you ever play back in black and roll off of it!!!

Fender-style necks are held in place by the neck screws, a fact that should be obvious by looking at the high-E string side of the pocket... there's almost no wood there at all. The need for a perfect neck pocket fit is a myth... some of the finest playing and sounding Fenders I ever played had pocket gaps you could slide a 1.0mm pick into easily. My Warmoth neck and body fit together like a single piece of wood, which is nice cosmetically, but I don'tthink it affects tone or playing. If your neck shifts under use, the neck screws need to be tightened, and I honestly don't think that a neck pocket gap will cause problems as it ages.

Also, I think the high "E" only appears to be closer to the edge than normal in that pic, thanks to angle and the neck binding. Although, I will agree, god forbid you ever play "Back In Black." Just on general principles.

Now, is a rosewood EJ expensive? You bet it is, and someone who spend that kind of kale on a guitar would likely go over it with a fine tooth comb. But does Fender promise a perfect neck pocket fit under warranty? I dunno.....

I posted this on another forum for you hush but I thought I'd add my thoughts here as well...


There is no such thing as a perfect factory guitar... If it plays well then keep it... tight neck pocket has zero to do with sustain... it is making plenty of contact at the base...

My EJ Rosewood has a gap too and it is THE most resonant strat I have... I have a '54 masterbuilt that has zero gap and my EJ Rosewood kills it in resonance when played unplugged... My EJ Rosewood also has slight finish 'scuffing on either side near the nut (like the guitar was handled before the nitro fully cured...)

Things to think about re: the allignment... Easily fixed...

Loosen the 4 neck screws 1/4 turn. put the top curve of the guitar in your armpit and gently pull up on the neck with your left hand... you may hear a creak (that's ok)... check the string allignment... should be better... you may need to tighten the screws while holding the neck in place, in that case put the guitar -top side down - on a couch, push down with your left hand and tighten the screws with your right...

Also, make sure the saddles are straight and not pushed out to the sides (the high and low E) and make sure the strings are coming off the saddle straight.

Here is the neck pocket on mine... it looks like it needed some additional routing to accommodate the neck... rather than mess with a finished neck they probably just took a little bit out of the pocket...

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Gosh. I'm taken aback at both of these guitars' neck pockets. My ordinary MIAs have no such issues. The EJ is supposed to be the absolute pinnacle of the production line Strat. The couple I've played in shops were absolutely perfect - sadly, beyond my pocket at the time.

Hushdrops, your friend needs to take it back within his window of opportunity and change it for another. And if that one don't sound so resonant, why, change it again. Keep going till he gets the right one. It may take some weeks of the shop's Fender rep carting them back and forth, but it is costing the shop nothing, so your friend mustn't feel embarrassed.

Tell him experienced players say to keep at it till he gets a winner. An EJ Strat should the ultimate - and for most here it has been. Don't compromise.

Cheers - C

There is no way and no explaining in the world enough to get me not to demand a new guitar from the dealer and then FMIC. Take pics. and document every conversation , email etc. That's just wrong in so many ways!
Good luck !

+1

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The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson

wayneclifton - did the Hi E seem to be too far over (to the edge of the fretboard) to you (from the pics) ?


the string spacing doesn't seem to be an issue , even though there's a gap on the treble side of .013" , the alignment is pretty much straight-on , the HI E isn't an issue

you know what, looking at the picture, because of the BINDING it looks like the HI E is sort of way too far over - but it's really not
def since Fender's usually don't have binding , this makes a diff in the perception

look closely at the picture - if you look at just the rosewood fingerboard, it looks like the Hi E doesn't have as much room as it needs, but if you look at the actual FRET , the HI E has plenty of room

the Fret goes over the rosewood fingerboard and into the binding - so the the frets are within the white binding - where on a normal strat the binding isn't there , so the HI E isn't as far off as it may seem with a quick look

the whole binding thing on a Strat is strange, at 1st i didn't like it, but once you play this guitar and hear it - it's ALL GOOD (just so the pocket gap doesn't cause an issue)

believe me if the Hi E was as off as it looks (if you don't compensate for the binding, look at the edge of the entire fret) , then he wouldn't have even bought this guitar - just a little playing and when the Hi E rolled off the edge, it would have went back to the rack...

thanks for your reply

SlapChop - I pointed out the binding / Hi E alignment issue in a post to the Back in Black guy before reading your post, glad to see that I wasn't alone in the binding viewpoint (I know that the Hi E is ok because the guitar plays so well, the only thing i have in common with EJ is that he mandates that all of his guitars have plenty of room on the Hi E )

just so it doesn't cause a problem in the future which it looks like it won't from researching , it's a keeper

Ceri - actually my friend's a really experienced player (really good, he's all over the Guitar Blast and other competition sites) , just that he's a player - not a luthier

the Palomino EJ Rosewood is a WINNER - it's unlikely that another one will show up that plays and sounds as well as this one - def no problem settling for a cosmetic flaw just so it won't cause a problem later.

not all new strat's are the same , to everyone that's different though

some will say they all sound alike, some will say that 1 out of every 100 or more ends up being special - just really good sounding / playing over all others

the last 5 or 6 EJ's i have played (older, not rosewood which there are other rosewoods in my area) i didn't care for at all, actually only every once in a while do i really like an EJ off of the rack

hopefully someone with repair skills will find this thread - or someone with a similar pocket gap with a guitar that they have had for many years.