Best way to widen a neck pocket

[millsart]

Question for all you wood workers out there, how would you suggest I go about widening a neck pocket about 1mm or less ?

The baritone neck I got for my Danelectro I thought was the same size but its no more than 1mm to wide.

I think slightly widening the pocket should be doable, but I really don't know the best way to go about it, or the best tools to use.

maybe a router for a dremel ?

I of course want to keep it as straight as possible which is my main worry

 

[jmh151]

Re: Best way to widen a neck pocket

What kind of guitar is it? Does it have a Fender spec neck pocket?

The only way you should do it is with a router with a template. Dremel bits aren't deep enough and are unstable for that bg a route

 

[scottish]

Re: Best way to widen a neck pocket

If you are literally talking 1mm or less then id feel most comforatable doing it by hand with a file. It will not take long at all, few strokes with the right file and you will be set. Make sure its a wood file and not one designed for metal.

I know your main concern will probably be the right angle joins of the neck pocket and keeping them straight, but with such a small difference, i honestly dont think it will matter. Id do a few strokes on both sides then try it, repeat as needed.

Having to deepen it is much more of a pain.

EDIT: Thats if we are talking about a bolt on neck, ive never worked with set necks so i couldnt tell you there.

 

[millsart]

Re: Best way to widen a neck pocket

Yeah its a bolt on neck, and the Dano body is no doubt some rather cheap wood which should go through pretty quickly, luckily not maple or something like that lol

The bolt pattern will line up still so assuming those have been drilled straight into the neck, the sides shouldn't present too much probably as long as they are 99.9% perfect, and I wont need to touch the back edge of the pocket so hopefully that can help keep things straight.


Its just a Dano guitar so not worth that much, but I still want to do the best job I can.


Hopefully if all goes well I'll have the only Dano Pro style body with a 30" baritone scale

 

[Sanford]

Re: Best way to widen a neck pocket

Any possibility of changing back to the original neck in the future? If so, maybe sanding the sides of the neck (instead of the pocket) would help. 1mm or less from the neck shouldn't affect it all that much as long as it's evenly done on both sides. This way the pocket is still the right size for future neck swaps.

Unless the neck is more important than the body for using on future projects, in which case I'd disregard my suggestion.

 

[millsart]

Re: Best way to widen a neck pocket

Any possibility of changing back to the original neck in the future? If so, maybe sanding the sides of the neck (instead of the pocket) would help. 1mm or less from the neck shouldn't affect it all that much as long as it's evenly done on both sides. This way the pocket is still the right size for future neck swaps.

Unless the neck is more important than the body for using on future projects, in which case I'd disregard my suggestion.

I went with the pocket, reason being, its a dano so its layers of plywood and the neck was rock maple so it would of been much much harder to work with.

wood file worked quite well and then just touched it up with a dremel with a drum sanding bit in any spots where it touched a bit still.

The neck is a little thicker so I'll have the raise the bridge and pups to compensate but I think it shuld work well enough.


Its a 30" scale and Im seeing if I might need to move the bridge or just the saddles as I'm at 30 and 1/4" right now


Looks really cool though I think so far, will post some pics when done