I'm kind of new at guitar maintenance. I've always had the local guitar shop do it for me, but I'd like to learn more about it so I can start doing it myself.

I want to remove my Strat neck to see the date that it was built. I'm worried about a few things.

1. Should I get a tech to do it, i.e., is it easy or a complicated process?
2. Does it affect the guitar's stability if the neck is removed?
3. Does it affect the set-up or action if the neck is removed/replaced?

Thanks,
DC

#1 No. Easy to do.
#2 No
#3 Could. Follow the instructions on the site here for set up specifications.

Me I am not interested in removing a neck unless I am replacing the neck. Try this trick with your neck. Do not loosen your strings. Loosen all the screws on the neck plate a quarter turn. See if your here any noise, a pop or crack. Tighten your screws up again. This will pull the neck closer to the body. Tune & intonate your guitar.

Check your serial # on the site for your build date.

Super...thx.

For someone who's never removed a guitar neck is that advice relevant? I've never heard it before, so dont know if its right or wrong. I cant see 1/4 a turn hurting but still i wouldnt want to do it.

On removing your neck, simply loosen all the strings off, put a capo on the 1st fret so they dont slip off the tuners. Undo the neckplate screws and remove. It shouldnt affect stability or setup providing its off then on within half hour.
When putting the neck back on dont use a cordless secrewdriver and dont overtighten the screws. Do tighten the screws like you'd put a car wheel on. top left,bottom right,top right,bottom left is the way i go. No proven reason i just prefer it, after all the wheels dont dro off my car.

Also i'd check the serial no' on this site in the support section. If the guitar is a vintage reissue though it wont work.

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No no and no

At worst after you reinstall you would have to pull it back into aligment. That said I always check setup when ever I pull a neck.

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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

Hi, In my experience with guitars I never had any problems when removing necks ..... it is fairly easy to do .. make sure you loose all the strings first and there should be no problem ...

The one thing I'm going to add to this is if this is the first time you've removed a neck (which obviously it is) instead of loosening the strings, if all you want to do is get the numbers off the neck, I'd suggest just waiting until your next string change and take the neck off while you have the strings off. The reason I suggest this is that because unless you're careful, if you just loosen the strings to remove the neck (even if you use a capo), you change the tension of the wraps around the tuning keys which can lead to tuning issues once you put it back together...not always, but it's possible.

There are times where you may need to remove the neck while the strings are still on such as shimming the neck,...or other times where you may need to simply loosen the strings for other repair/maintenance issues such as replacing pickups, but if this is just an "exploratory" thing, maybe just wait until your next string change. Taking the neck off isn't hard to do at all but you don't want to freak yourself out too badly either...at the very least make sure you have a spare set of strings just in case they do get unwrapped while you're doing this .

Just my $.02 worth,
Jim

No it is not relevant. I thought that was pretty well evident? More related to the old wives tale of adding sustain. Next time I will clarify my thesis.

In my ever loving quest of old wives tales I'll give it a go then. Different countries different wives eh?

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No no and no

Different wives same headaches. I should have made it more clear since it went off on a tangent.

I am suprised no one has brought up loosening the neck plate screws previously. Maybe I read it on another forum. It did make a pop on both of mine. Not sure about any extra sustain.

I just wanted to say don't take the neck off to date the guitar. It could be possibly a lot of work to get it back correctly. Or maybe not.

I am the kind of person when changing strings I do it one string at a time. Maybe I am to cautious.

I am with you why bother taking the the neck off to look for a date. Unless you are trying to research a 60's, 70 's strat who cares you can look at the guitar and the serial number and learn what you want anyway.
And about a quater turn on screws I do that when need to pull a guitar into alignment when working on them.

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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

I am not sure if the neck plate trick works on aligning the neck. Don't the strings all have different levels of tension. I am not that technical.

From what I read it helps the neck seat itself more tightly in the neck pocket. Better contact to the body and what not. Before I did it I kept thinking that those are 4 long screws and what would a quarter turn do.

To be honest it almost sounded more like a crack than a pop. But no damage. Just a neat little trick. Maybe someone else can say if they have done it and heard a difference.

How else can you align the neck?
And the noise you are hearing is because even though the parts are dry you are still putting together freshly finished peices tightly together and you are just breaking there contact loose.

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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

That makes sense for the noise.

Like I said, I am not that technical so the most I do is drop in locking tuning pegs, change strings, pick guard and replaced a pickup. I had no idea thats how you align a neck. I thought since the strings have different tension's it could pull the neck either straight or slightly off.