Hey everyone

I have an Eric Johnson strat, which is painted in a thin nitrocellulose lacquer. When you adjust the truss rod, you need to remove the neck, but when I do this the paint that is in contact with the neck at the heel peels off the body.

What can I do to avoid this? What could be the appropriate method to remove the neck from the hell

Has someone tried to adjust to truss rod in this guitar without removing the neck? I see that a part of the truss rod can be seen if you only remove the pickguard.

I am afraid of removing the neck. I dont want the wood thread in the neck heel to worn off by tightening and untightening the screws. Is it normal for the wood threads to worn off in these guitars?

I just bought another EJ strat, and want to adjust the truss rod but dont want to have the same problem.

Thanks for all you comments

I am attaching a picture of the neck heel

That wont happen just through taking a neck off adjusting the trussrod and putting the neck back on a couple of times a year. It will happen if you overtighten the screws, or take the neck off every other day. One suggestion that BigJay made to me that I absolutely swear by now is to put some beeswax on the screw tips before re-attatching the neck. Its a great natural sealer that really helps those screws bind into place.

Also on your guitar that stripped the lacquer. Did the lacquer strip off the neck or the body? The fact is that the johnson strat has very little paint in the neckpocket. It was part of the mans design of the guitar. All FMIC guitars have bare or bare'ish neck pockets.

57 hotrod same pricepoint as a EJ


Maybe your mistaken about that bit.
If the lacquer has come off the neck, the guitar needs to go back. Its substandard and should be put right.

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No no and no

Yep - I wonder whether the paint wasn't quite as cured as it should have been when the guitar was assembled, so the lacquer on one part has stuck slightly to the other?

What would be much more serious is if it was a batch of lacquer that was mixed slightly wrongly and so it has never cured completely - but that is very unlikely.

To discover this problem the neck must have been off once already, so that adhesion between neck and body has been broken. What I'd want to know is whether the two parts have stuck again after being reassembled?

If other guitars are available to play then one option might be to leave the neck disassembled from the body for a few weeks to allow any trapped solvent to continue escaping. The longer the better - nitrocellulose goes on slowly curing for a very long time indeed.

BTW, as always a photo would help...

BTW (again): regarding the wax thing, genuine bees' wax would be great but is not always easy to get. Doesn't matter: any wax, say from a candle, is absolutely fine for the job. I always just rub my screws against an ordinary candle prior to reassembling and it works a treat. Pickguard and bridge mounting screws too.

Cheers - C

Are you talking about paint from the neck pocket sticking to the bottom of the neck? Like this:



It's quite common on old Fenders. In fact, I'd count on seeing it to be sure that the neck and body were original on a vintage piece.

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

Hey guys

Thanks for all your responses. Finally I could upload an image so you can see where the paint is peeling off.

I asked a Fender gold level tech and he advised the following; when you remove the screws tap the front of the neck around the fifteenth-seventeenth fret about 6-8 times firmly. It breaks the seal in the neck pocket cleanly.

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10-4 good buddy, over and out!

I have to give a +1 for the beeswax, and a +1 for any wax too. In the stair business that trick is used as well. I personally use a bar of soap in the field sometimes. Not only helps to lube a screw, but it smells nice too.

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Is it really really required to remove the neck for adjusting the truss rod? I have heard that some people can adjust it just be removing the pickguard and turning the part of the screw that can be seen.

Let me know what you think

Hi estebanh: now we can see the pic you've added in the first post - ouch!!

I think that is a different issue than everyone was imagining, and it ain't pretty.

How new is the guitar? I have an uncomfortable feeling that this is not covered by the warranty, based on other Forum users' experience. But if the guitar is within its warranty I guess you could always take it back to the shop and ask about it.

Otherwise, there's nothing to be done other than a skilled finish repair by a proper luthier. Luckily, that's a little easier with nitrocellulose, and white is less challenging to match than some other colors too.

Can you live with it or will you try and have it repaired?

Cheers - C

That finish looks far from 'thin nitrocellulose' to me... looks really thick like Poly, but I'm sure it can't be. Confused!

Is this little cresent a sign of impact damage?



It appears to have never bonded to the wood, whether thats urethane or cellulose it would appear to never have bonded to the timber.

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No no and no

LET IT RIDE!!

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10-4 good buddy, over and out!

I know its a little late for this advice now, but I think it may have been a good idea to use an artist knife with a very thin blade to lightly go around the area where the neck meets the body in order to cleanly cut any painted areas that may have bridged together between the neck and body surfaces. I have been concerned about the paint cracking on my guitar body if I remove the neck, and planned to try this when the time comes.

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"My mind is a raging torrent, flooded with rivulets of thought cascading into a waterfall of creative alternatives." Blazing Saddles...

Randy something similar could be the solution to stopping the shedding of paint. That paint looks to be flaking off the body, much like polyurethane.

Anyway in my plastering experience a wall suffering from damp sheds plaster in much the same way. To repair it you have to get the old plaster off the wall, seal the wall, then replaster. If you just go tearing at the old plaster you'll end up stripping the wall completely. The solution in that case is to cut a line about 3ft away from the damaged area with a stihl saw. Then hack the damaged plaster off, it will only tear away up to your cut into the wall in all but the worst cases.

Perhaps something akin to that may be part of this guitars repair procedure. The way that paint is flaking certainly isnt pretty. If it is the urethane that hasnt bonded to the timber, I cant see why it wouldnt be covered by warranty. Its not like you can damage it without damaging the topcoat too, is it?

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No no and no

That's what I would have thought too.

But do you remember a Forum user a few months ago who had a Sienna Sunburst Am Std with a lump of paint that popped off, also right by the neck but on the bass side? The guitar was only months old but he took it back to the shop and was told the finish was not covered by warranty.

That's fair enough if the damage is caused by impact, but it doesn't seem so fair if the paint had never bonded properly in the first place.

- But who decides which it is?

I think Estebanh should take it back and ask... but I'm not too hopeful.

Cheers - C

PS The Eric Johnson Sig is nitro on the body and neck. Not urethane or polyester. Which at least makes a spot repair slightly easier.