strat pickguard too thick to fit under lip of neck question

[Naps]

I'm changing pickguards on my start and my pickguard is a little too thick to fit under the lip (fingerboard) that sicks out from the neck. I had this problem with the other pickguard so I trimmed it out some. I was wondering if it would be better to put the pickguard on and tighten the neck until it is flush with the pickguard or if I shoud trim the new pickguard to go around the bottom of the neck like I did the last one.

Would either way be better. I'm leaning twoards trimming the pickguard again because it's more wood connecting in the neck. But I was thinking of putting a little wood in the neck pocket to make it a little higher so I wouldn't have to keep trimming pickguards for this guitar (and esentially ruining them in case I want to change it to another guitar).

It's a warmoth neck, start body and It's becoming problematic. I put all of the stuff together at the beginning of the semester and I've been really buisy with school, homework, family, ect. And it seems like every time I pick it up I find something out of wack. In all honesty I put it together pretty quick, it wasn't that complicated, but it seems like I've invested in a bunch of mis matched parts that SHOULD work together and are Advertised to work together and Work for everyone else, but NOOOOO, my guitar has to be a pain in the ass instead of a tone machine. and it's a little frustrating. <Venting over>

any advice will help.

[Naps]

Re: strat pickguard too thick to fit under lip of neck question

You'll have to trim it again.If you try to bolt the neck on over it the pickgaurd will act like a shim and tilt the neck.

Ok, what about a 'shim' in the neck pocket? would this work? if so what kind of difference will it make?

Thanks.

[Naps]

Re: strat pickguard too thick to fit under lip of neck question

Off the top of my head I'd say I have about half the space I need under the fingerboard lip right now, so about half the thickness of a regular 3-ply strat pickguard. I don't have anything that would measure that precisely, so probably less than or around 1/16 of an inch.

I did try it with the pickguard under the neck when I first got it, that's how I found out it was sticking up too far. and your right it did tilt, now that you mention it.

[LesStrat]

Re: strat pickguard too thick to fit under lip of neck question

I just shaved the bottom of the pickguard edge.

[proxy]

Re: strat pickguard too thick to fit under lip of neck question

I would change the pickguard, the pickguard is more or less looks, so changing something functional for that seems foolish. Form follows function.

[Robert S.]

Re: strat pickguard too thick to fit under lip of neck question

First off the neck angle as it leaves the body is quite important to how the guitar will set-up and play. Even a couple of mill increase at the butt of the neck is quite alot by the time you run out to the lenght of the neck.

If your saddles are now set very low/flush with the bridge plate you may have the room to shim the neck and it might even be advisable to do so. If the saddles are already quite elevated you may not have the room to raise just the trailing edge of the pocket and you may have to shim the entire pocket as well as possibly making adjustments to the neck angle.

Set-ups are tricky business and changing one thing often requires re-working the entire guitar. If the guitar plays well now, I'd cut the guard.