Kivitel
New member
Okay, so I recently obtained a nice alder tele body. Black. Simplest thing in the world. Not a fender or mighty mite, but seems to be of respectable quality.
Anyway, it has a tele neck pocket. Problem is, I have a 21 fret strat neck I want to put on it (maple, 70's headstock). Now, I know that this will intonate correctly, BUT I will have two little cracks at the end of the neck where it joins up. Warmoth has a photo of what it looks like. Not a disaster but I want a neater looking joint.
Just for background, I want this to be a simple, easy project due to the fact I'm moving soon. So easy solutions are a plus. Here are the options as I see it - I want your inputs as to which seems easiest/best/ possible or impossible.
1. Stick the neck in, make a new pickguard. I've never done this. I was going to use styrene, and then lacquer it.
2. Use a disc sander to reshape the end of the neck to make it square. This would move the neck in about 1/16 to 3/32 or so. Would I still be able to intonate? Teles seem to have a good amount of space for intonation, way more than strats or LPs and such.
3. Use a tablesaw / minisaw / handsaw to cut a small ledge on the underside of the neck, deep enough so the fretboard overhangs the gap and comes up onto the body a bit. Same intonation issues as #2 of course, probably a bit harder too. Would I run into the trussrod?
4. I have a strat neck pocket routing template - I'm going to be routing this baby out for a neck p90 anyway - should I just route a little curve into the neck pocket and be done with it? Obviously this will require a small modifcation to the pickguard but that isn't much of a problem. Same intonation questions raised however.
I appreciate the communal wisdom of the forum bros.
Here is a kisekae of what I'm going for, btw:
Anyway, it has a tele neck pocket. Problem is, I have a 21 fret strat neck I want to put on it (maple, 70's headstock). Now, I know that this will intonate correctly, BUT I will have two little cracks at the end of the neck where it joins up. Warmoth has a photo of what it looks like. Not a disaster but I want a neater looking joint.
Just for background, I want this to be a simple, easy project due to the fact I'm moving soon. So easy solutions are a plus. Here are the options as I see it - I want your inputs as to which seems easiest/best/ possible or impossible.
1. Stick the neck in, make a new pickguard. I've never done this. I was going to use styrene, and then lacquer it.
2. Use a disc sander to reshape the end of the neck to make it square. This would move the neck in about 1/16 to 3/32 or so. Would I still be able to intonate? Teles seem to have a good amount of space for intonation, way more than strats or LPs and such.
3. Use a tablesaw / minisaw / handsaw to cut a small ledge on the underside of the neck, deep enough so the fretboard overhangs the gap and comes up onto the body a bit. Same intonation issues as #2 of course, probably a bit harder too. Would I run into the trussrod?
4. I have a strat neck pocket routing template - I'm going to be routing this baby out for a neck p90 anyway - should I just route a little curve into the neck pocket and be done with it? Obviously this will require a small modifcation to the pickguard but that isn't much of a problem. Same intonation questions raised however.
I appreciate the communal wisdom of the forum bros.
Here is a kisekae of what I'm going for, btw:
