I had assumed -before I took a strat neck off- that the mounting holes through the heel of the body were slightly bigger than those predrilled in the neck before fitting. So that the mounting screws did not have to be screwed THROUGH the body: i.e. that the screws threads would simply pass through the body wood, without 'tapping' it. I assumed this because such a system would enable the screws to pull the neck onto the body as they were tightened.

Having taken the necks off a couple of strats it seems that the screws 'tap' through the body as well: that is, the threads dig into the wood, they don't simply pass through without being turned. This means, presumably, that when a new guitar neck is joined to a new body the screw 'taps' a continuous helical thread through the pilot holes joining the body and neck together, assuming the underside of the neck is in secure contact with the base of the neck pocket of course.

So, to the point of the long-winded preamble above: what happens if I were to join a neck and body that have come from two different strats? Obviously I mean one where there is a compatable join. Is it not likely that there will be a discontinuity in the thread where it leaves the body and enters the neck, i.e. it will not form a continuous 'spiral'.

It's very difficult to explain precisely what I mean here, but it has implications for fitting a "new" neck to a body, if the neck has been on another guitar; either of two things could potentially happen:-

-I might end-up a small gap between neck and body

-The screws would 'retap' the neck potentially weakening the neck holes.

The former could happen if the two were not clamped together in some way, and the latter if they were clamped! I ask because I'm thinking of putting a neck from another guitar on one of my strats.

People do this all the time so it can't be much of an issue, I just concerned about ruining one of my pride-and-joys'! Advice please!

Hi Adrian: nope, I understand exactly what you are saying. And I'm slightly kicking myself, because it is something I'd never really given much thought to, and yet now you raise it there is an issue there, as you say.

The first, and probably most practical, thing I can offer is that I have mated bodies and necks that didn't start life together and not had any problems at all with it. So in real life I don't think it is a worry.

But you are right, the screws must be somewhat retapping their path into the neck wood. And that is obviously not something we'd want to do many times. When you say; "People do this all the time so it can't be much of an issue", well hold on there. People absolutely do sometimes have problems with screws no longer holding necks in firmly. There are other possible causes of this, but now you raise it I presume that screws retapping their thread paths and so chewing up the wood progressively might be one of them.

The obvious conclusion: don't do it too often!

Something else I've found with first insertion of neck screws, whether in freshly drilled neck holes or old existing ones, is that holding the neck very firmly and accurately in place whilst doing the work gives a distinctly better finished join than otherwise. If you'll permit me some photos...

Here is my clamping caul for this task. Just a piece of wood radiused to shape by sanding it using an actual fingerboard as a sanding block. Then thin strips of cork stuck on to go between the frets:



Then clamp that neck and get it carefully seated in exactly the right place. My cramps are cork lined too:



And from the other side. This is with screw ferrules rather than a neck plate, but it amounts to the same thing:



One last thing: I have a couple of bodies where the screw holes in the neck heel on the body timber are in fact so loose that they are effectively unthreaded. Those heel joints work perfectly well and hold the necks tight and secure. So another approach for you might be to just enlarge the holes on your body, and then the screws can turn freely in that part of the join and so find the existing threads in the neck wood. Make sense?

There's people here who do a lot more swapping out of necks than me. I'd be most interested to hear other people's experiences on this.

Cheers - C

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Thanks for that advice Ceri, I'll make myself a cork-lined cramp!!

Hi again Adrian. You're on the same bit of the planet as me, if memory serves. So just get yourself along to this website:

http://www.axminster.co.uk/klemmsia-kle ... prod22453/

Cheaper than the self-same identical object from Stew-Mac, and much lower shipping costs too. And free P&P if you can find 50 quid's worth of stuff to buy - which is never much of a problem, I find...

Cheers - C

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Yup, good old Blighty!

Thanks again Ceri, they're now in my 'favorites'!

Whilst you're there: how do you find English Sycamore compares as a neck material to rock maple?

Isn't that pic the sycamore necked guitar?

I'm nutty about woods! I'd like nothing better than a collection fretboarded with exotic timbers like Kingwood, Cocoblo, African Blackwood etc!

"I had assumed -before I took a strat neck off- that the mounting holes through the heel of the body were slightly bigger than those predrilled in the neck before fitting."

That's actually the way it's supposed to be. But they drill the holes before they apply the finish and often the finish makes the holes a little smaller. The Fender assemblers don't notice/care because they clamp the neck in place before sinking the screws.

Find a drill bit that's close to the thread diameter of the neck screws and enlarge the body holes just a smidge. You don't want the holes to be too big. Big enough that you don't have to screw the screws through the hole, but tight enough that you have to gently push the screws through the body.

When installing a neck, hold the neck in place and push the screws through the body until they hit the neck holes. Then using a screwdriver, push down gently while slowly turning the screws backwards (like you're unscrewing them) -- you'll feel the screw "drop" when it finds the original thread in the neck hole. When that happens, start tightening the screw. That way the screw doesn't cut new threads in the neck holes -- the neck threads will never wear out/strip if you do that and don't overtighten them. (That's really the proper way to start any threaded fastener -- backwards until you find the thread.)

Was that 60000 characters? It wouldn't let me type more...

If you enlarge the body holes, then you have to be careful not to overtighten the screws. When the body holes are tight, the screws stop turning when the heads hit the neckplate. But with the holes enlarged, you can tighten them so hard you bend the neck plate (the corners dig into the body), or strip the neck hole screws.

Hi strayedstater: I've never had any difficulty typing more words than you did. Everyone else may have had a problem with me doing that, but I haven't...

Actually, what happened? Did the posting box start jumping around...?

Anyway:

Hi again Adrian: yes, that is the English sycamore neck. Frankly, sycamore is just a type of acer, and maple is another. They're so close I'm sure I couldn't tell the difference in a blind tasting. It just seemed amusing to me to use a timber from close to home, especially as the guitar front was also sycamore. I make no special claims for it tonally - but it has proved utterly stable, so that's the main thing.

You like interesting timber? On Ebay my cursor was hovering over "buy now" on this one for a while but in the end I didn't go for it. Now I'm regretting it!



However, a nice one I did buy is this:



Is that sex on wheels or what? That's figured redwood and it is sitting in my wood hoard right now looking gorgeous. One of these days you might see a build thread on this Forum including that piece of wood...

Well pop along to your local timber merchant and see if they have interesting things in their hardwoods section. Even here in humble Peckham my local yard has all kinds of amazing stuff: Indian rosewood, zebrano, wenge, ripple ash, walnut, pink ivory wood... It's all very different than I remember a few decades ago, when you could have any wood so long as it was pine!

Cheers - C

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"Actually, what happened? Did the posting box start jumping around...?"

It was like the cursor hit a wall -- when I typed nothing more would show up. It might be my computer or user error.

I usually don't admire another man's wood , but that redwood is spectacular.

OK, you owe me a new computer keyboard now. I'm never going to get the beer I just snorted over it out from between the keys.

No idea what that blocked cursor thing is about. That's weird. Your post was nothing compared to some the essays we get round here. And not all of them from me, either..

Cheers - C

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[quote="strayedstraterThat's actually the way it's supposed to be. But they drill the holes before they apply the finish and often the finish makes the holes a little smaller. The Fender assemblers don't notice/care because they clamp the neck in place before sinking the screws.

Find a drill bit that's close to the thread diameter of the neck screws and enlarge the body holes just a smidge. You don't want the holes to be too big. Big enough that you don't have to screw the screws through the hole, but tight enough that you have to gently push the screws through the body.

When installing a neck, hold the neck in place and push the screws through the body until they hit the neck holes. Then using a screwdriver, push down gently while slowly turning the screws backwards (like you're unscrewing them) -- you'll feel the screw "drop" when it finds the original thread in the neck hole. When that happens, start tightening the screw. That way the screw doesn't cut new threads in the neck holes -- the neck threads will never wear out/strip if you do that and don't overtighten them. (That's really the proper way to start any threaded fastener -- backwards until you find the thread.)[/quote]

Thanks Strayedstrater, that's very good advice! It does seem to make more sense having the body holes just big enough to clear the outside thread diameter of screws, that way the neck is pulled onto the body when the screws are tightened. I was surprised when it looked as though that was not the case with Fenders, your idea about the finish obstructing the holes and the Fender method of fitting makes very good sense.

I'll take your advice!

Hi again Adrian: yes, that is the English sycamore neck. Frankly, sycamore is just a type of acer, and maple is another. They're so close I'm sure I couldn't tell the difference in a blind tasting. It just seemed amusing to me to use a timber from close to home, especially as the guitar front was also sycamore. I make no special claims for it tonally - but it has proved utterly stable, so that's the main thing.

You like interesting timber? On Ebay my cursor was hovering over "buy now" on this one for a while but in the end I didn't go for it. Now I'm regretting it!

Is that sex on wheels or what? That's figured redwood and it is sitting in my wood hoard right now looking gorgeous. One of these days you might see a build thread on this Forum including that piece of wood...
Cheers - C[/quote]

That certainly is "sex on wheels", Looks like I'll being popping over to a wood-yard near you soon!