Fender Neck Pocket depth.....is it really 5/8"?

[blakejcan]

I've built enough Fender style bodies now only to mate them with necks either from Warmoth, Allparts or of my own creation to be pretty convinced that 5/8" is simply not deep enough unless you want the saddles maxed out.

I am only throwing this out here for feedback. Am I doing something wrong? Is 5/8" just a starting point? I hope I'm just missing something but if I am, I don't know what it is. If you take a perfectly straight neck of a standard size and put it into a 5/8" deep neck pocket, almost always it needs to be lowered a bit or adjusted in some way.

I'm going to pull apart a warmoth body I have to measure the neck pocket on it. I'm pretty convinced it's deeper by just a tiny bit which changes the geometry.

Anyone else come across this? Thanks!

 

[blakejcan]

Hmm. Since I'm feeling European today and I don't like fractions let's use the metric system

16mm is standard neck pocket depth

My Warmoth pocket is 17.5mm.

1.5mm sure doesn't seem like much of a difference but man, in those small tolerances, maybe it is?

 

[jeremy]

thats a significant difference for sure. i dont have a body at hand to measure at the moment but i can check in a bit

 

[ICTGoober]

In my 45 plus years at the bench I can say with authority that specifications are subject to change for all kinds of reasons - not all of them known.

 

[blakejcan]

What’s a trip is the warmoth has a great setup and the saddles are somewhere in the middle of the range

I’ll play with the truss rod to see if can get it in range before I go back and shave more off the neck pocket but man, it just feels like a consistent thing


this helpful breakdown from Warmoth shows it at 5/8th but I can never get that other 3mm bit above the body

For sure it’s closer to 4-5 mm

 

[blakejcan]

Ok, couple corrections on my end as I talk mostly to myself.

I actually wasn't checking a Warmoth body. It was an MJT body. After doing some internet sleuthing it looks as though MJT bodys are routed to 11/16" and not 5/8". God I hate fractions. Why do we do this? I get why the rest of the world is annoyed with us.

Moving on.

That' 1/16" or 1.5mm difference is real and probably a fair amount. I think MJT is on to something.

The search continues. WHO IS HIDING THIS? WHO STANDS TO GAIN!?!? THE ILLUMINATI SHALL NOT WIN! BIRDS ARE NOT REAL!!

 

[blakejcan]

Oh this is good too

https://aperioguitar.com/what-you-d...hould/#:~:text=But you can't be,are 5/8″ deep.

 

[ehdwuld]

Make your notes
save the Luthier's secret
guard like the handshake

Smile at novices as they struggle like you

These are the dues that must be paid

 

[blakejcan]

Uphold the virtues of the word as written and ye shall behold the treasure of the original Luthiers of Fender.....the hidden truth of the neck pocket and the original 11/16" depth as first recorded by Fender Pythagoreas in the year 14 A.D.

 

[ehdwuld]

SSSSShhhh lest ye bring the wrath of Leo upon us

 

[blakejcan]

this is what the Knights Templar crusaded for!

(enter Nic Cage holding the constitution)

 

[GuitarDoc]

I've built 4 dozen guitars with a neck pocket depth of exactly 5/8" and they work perfectly where the neck thickness at the heal is 3/4" and the fretboard is 1/4". A couple times I used a 3/8" fretboard without thinking, and all hell broke loose when trying to get the bridge/saddles right.

 

[blakejcan]

Ok. I'm gonna be real honest here. I went back and checked my neck pocket depth and they were too shallow. Just barely shy of 5/8". A quick re-route and they are better.

But I'm still thinking that the deeper neck pocket is the way to go. Would let you have a flat board with minimal relief and a more middle of the range adjustment in the saddles.

Also as I type this that sounds ridiculous that I somehow know more than Fender or something.

 

[RanchManSandy]

As deep as you can go while still fitting a pickguard under the fretboard overhand (of desired) makes sense, but 5/8 will retain compatibility with the vast majority (i.e. most) aftermarket parts, leaving final tweaking to the end user because not every variable can be universally calculated

If no pick guard, Warmoth's 720 mod has served me well, which makes the pocket almost 3/4" deep