Neck/action issues.

Just finished assembly today on my first build. All bolted together, the fretboard sits 3/8" above the body, the issue I am having is my saddles are raised almost to the max, making action adjustments very limited. I am new at this, do you have any recommendations? Should I remove the neck and sand the heel til desired?

Thanks for your assistance! :smile:

Check the depth of the neck pocket in the body. It may be too shallow, and may need deepening.

That's sitting pretty high, about 1/8" higher than mine (eyeball measurement only). Is the neck pulled down tight in the pocket?

Pictures would help us figure out the problem.

In the mean time, you can get your strings down closer to the body by shimming the neck joint. Cut a piece of card stock about 1" wide x the width of the pocket. Place this between the neck and the body at the end of the pocket farthest from the bridge. If that doesn't bring the strings to where you need them, experiment with different thicknesses.

If things get crazy with the shims, we'll need the pix. Good luck!

On my 75' Tele with a mity mite neck, the fretboard sits 5/16" above the top of the body. I hope that measurement might help. What was said above, if you shim the neck side of the pocket you should be able to bring your saddles down enough to get you into the ballpark. I'd sure try that before I started moving any material. At least that would tell you where the material would have to be removed if you need to do that.

Regards,

Don

I like them lower also... but some guys like the saddles high whether they have high action or not - it gives them a sharper break angle over the saddles.

1" thick neck minus 5/8th neck pocket = 3/8ths ...as you mentioned.

the older fender blueprint has the pocket at .69 = .6875 = 11/16

As rick mentioned, shimming under the outer screws would make the neck angle to the bridge lower.

or... you could route out more of the neck pocket.

a router bit with the bearing on the bottom could copy the route pattern to a 3/4 thick mdf (or whatever) template... and the template with a top bearing bit would allow you to deepen the route.

tape around the inside of the created template (several layers of masking - or a couple layers of copper or some other foil tape) would stand the bit off from the edges to try and avoid damage to the finish on the front. The underside where the neck meets the pocket is going to have the finish trimmed... no way around it. masking tape and careful attention to router direction when routing might, just might, avoid having the paint chip.

clearly, shimming is a lot easier.