Like a Virgin.....

[Norman_T]

Well now that I grabbed your attention ... I am shortly getting a Warmoth strat neck - wenge, brazilian rosewood board, 22 frets etc (getting it from Fatty a fellow Forum member) and putting it on one of my strats.

As I have never (now you will understand the title) taken off or put on a strat neck, what sort of things do I need to look out for (incidentally I am going to get the bolts as well) - do I need to count the number of turns the bolts have been unscrewed, how many turns to screw the bolts up, should I clamp up the neck to the body, is there an order in which the bolts are unscrewed/screwed, are they any special tools that I need to do the job?

Any help/advice for a virgin would be much appreciated

[Jeff_H]

Re: Like a Virgin.....

Norman...

Much like your title implys...this is much harder than it appears, and if done correctly should not hurt much.

You do not need to count the turns of the bolts. I usually do mine like I would the bolts when changing a tire. I start with one of the upper bolts, tighten in snug, but not totally tight. Then the opposite bottom corner. Repeat for the other bolts. Once all 4 are snug, I check to make sure that the allignment of the 'e' strings is correct, and if the neck needs to be shifted or shimmed. If it needs to be shifted, just loosen the bolts a little and push it the way it needs to go, and re-tighten.

Once it's ligned up I just tighted the screws as tightly by hand as is possible. I've not had any issues at all. That's what I did to shift the neck on your Hwy1 strat, and when I shimmed the neck on mine!

[Norman_T]

Re: Like a Virgin.....

Jeff,

Many thanks for the tip/advice that is going to be extremely useful when the neck arrives and I get down and do it. I have to say that the one on the Highway is absolutely spot on and I have not had to do any adjustment of the neck at all - some slight bridge and intonation but that was all. Otherwise perfecto - thanks for that.

Are you going for that nitro paint for your custom strat or just having a dye finish? Did I read somewhere that you also have a Warmoth strat neck for this strat - similar to the one that I have got? For some strange reason I am almost going down the same route as you, although I am probably going to put the neck on my JV strat with the Fralin pups in them and then think about getting another body for it, with a blue finish!!

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Like a Virgin.....

Norman...The very first thing you'll need to do,is to make sure the holes in your new neck match "perfectly" to the body holes...My neck didn't and so I had to dowel my neck and redrill all 4 holes..Here's how I do it...

I loosely put all of my strings on my guitar...Clamp the neck to the body with a C Clamp(put cardboard in between the clamp and the neck on both sides...Tighten all strings enough that you have no string slack and get all of your strings lined up across the fingerboard so they are centered on their way up the board to the nut...Shift the neck where ever you need to until you get nice alignment,then snug the clamp down pretty good so the neck can't shift...

I then carefully drill 2 staggered holes and the holes I drill are a bit smaller in diameter than the screws and I also don't drill the full length of the screw so I can get a nice tight bite on the wood...Use wax or soap on the screw before screwing it in...Try to drill nice straight holes and make sure you only drill enough that you stay clear of the top edge of the fretboard...Mark the drill bit with a permanent marker so you don't drill too deep..

Recheck your alignment after each hole you drill before moving onto the next hole...Once you get all 4 holes drilled and you have all screws snug holding the neck and body together,remove the clamp,tune to pitch,snug the screws enough to allow you to move the neck into position where you want it to stay...Tighten the 4 screws nice and tight...

If your neck holes don't match the 4 body holes...Contact me and I'll walk you through it...I've had this problem on the last 2 strats I've put together...

Things of concern from my experience...The Highway 1 body had a shallower pocket and didn't require me to shim the neck...

The body that this neck was on was deeper and required a match book half placed on the body end of the neck to get correct action on the high registers...

Both bodies had different hole postionings and I had to redrill the neck holes again after redrilling the neck and glueing in hardwood dowels..

John

[Norman_T]

Re: Like a Virgin.....

John,

Thanks for the detailed advice - very much appreciated. I hope it will not involve me having to make extra holes as that is the part I am dreading. I am thinking about putting the neck on my '57 JV strat which has got the Fralin pups in them. This is one of my main gigging guitars and I just love the body and the rest of the guitar, I guess I may have to take out one of the others. If I run into problems you'll hear me hollering all the way from Blighty!!

Norman

[STRATDELUXER97]

Re: Like a Virgin.....

John,

Thanks for the detailed advice - very much appreciated. I hope it will not involve me having to make extra holes as that is the part I am dreading. I am thinking about putting the neck on my '57 JV strat which has got the Fralin pups in them. This is one of my main gigging guitars and I just love the body and the rest of the guitar, I guess I may have to take out one of the others. If I run into problems you'll hear me hollering all the way from Blighty!!

Norman

Norman,for you,anytime my friend...Even if it takes a phone call,I'll always be here to help you out...Plugging the neck isn't as hard as you think buddy...You drill your current holes larger and to the size of a bigger dowel...Glue the dowels in,let them dry,sand them flush to the neck,redrill your holes into the neck again....

John

[Jeff_H]

Re: Like a Virgin.....

Jeff,

Many thanks for the tip/advice that is going to be extremely useful when the neck arrives and I get down and do it. I have to say that the one on the Highway is absolutely spot on and I have not had to do any adjustment of the neck at all - some slight bridge and intonation but that was all. Otherwise perfecto - thanks for that.

Are you going for that nitro paint for your custom strat or just having a dye finish? Did I read somewhere that you also have a Warmoth strat neck for this strat - similar to the one that I have got? For some strange reason I am almost going down the same route as you, although I am probably going to put the neck on my JV strat with the Fralin pups in them and then think about getting another body for it, with a blue finish!!

Norman -

I have decided to go with the translucent blue with a nitro finish. Just not sure where I'm going to get that done at just yet.....probably nakedbodyguitars...but I did pm Blueline about the job. I bought a warmoth fender licenced neck from Brisk, and it is an amazing neck. Great feel and finish. I have a feeling that you are going to be a big fan of the compound radius. It feels so good...even without strings. I quickly bolted it onto my body, and the holes on the neck and body lined up perfectly. I have to say that the quality of the warmoth stuff I have seen is excellent.

I certainly hope that your neck and body line up correctly. I have a feeling that they will since warmoth builds to Fender specs. The warmoth neck I have fit into my new body like a glove....tighter than the neck joint on my Highway one by a long shot. John gave some nicely detailed instructions just in case....he is the real expert here.

Post some pics when you're done....I'd love to see the neck!