Help / ninja tricks wanted for good neck / body fit

I'm slapping together my first Partscaster and I've gone with all low-budget parts, in order to keep losses minimal in case I screw up this first build. I ended up with a neck that was described as "Tele spec" but measured almost 2mm too wide at the pocket. For various reasons I won't bore you with, I decided to attack the neck rather than the body. The neck couldn't be easily returned and was useless otherwise.

I used a chunk of aluminum angle with a piece of sandpaper epoxied onto one inner edge to try and keep my sanding work level and consistent on each edge of the neck. Picked this trick up from another thread here at TDPRI, and it seems to have helped a lot... but with almost a full millimeter to shave from each side of the neck, it a) took freakin' forever with just sandpaper and b) almost certainly didn't come out *perfectly* level in all planes.

Now I've got the neck to the point where it ALMOST fits, but it needs to be pressed *hard* into the pocket in order to sit flush with the back / bottom of the pocket on the bass side. It's also not sitting as flush with the body-side perpendicular edge of the pocket as I'd like.

I guess I need a way to figure out exactly *where* my fit / friction problems lie so I know *exactly* where I need to keep attacking the neck. I've been trying to think of ways I can pull this off; it's not possible to simply see which parts of the neck / pocket are not interfacing properly.

Is there some trick involving, like, carbon paper or something of the like? Something that would mark off the remaining high spots on the neck itself so I would know exactly what to hit when I pull it back off the body? I am trying to come up with ideas like this and I'm not sure that any of them will work very well.

Or am I overthinking this and should I just keep sanding until the thing is sitting loose in the pocket, and plan on throwing in some shims? I'd prefer to avoid that.

Hi, lossfizzle -- I'm only a little further along than you, having built my first two Teles just since February of this year and recently started my projects #3 and #4. I have no good advice for your particular question, but a few recommendations related to the neck-body fit issue: 1) so far, I've used only Fender necks and bodies (no "Fender licensed" or "Fender replacement" parts, although Warmoth has a great reputation and I've found them very good to work with on other items I've purchased from them); part of my reason is that I can post the axes I build for sale as "Fender Telecasters" without deception (I specify my own work/mods as the builder); 2) from what I've learned from other builders, one should be cautious about matching USA-made necks/bodies with necks/bodies made in other countries, especially Japan -- poor fit problems can result; I'm pretty fussy about using only USA-made necks, but I've had no problems and very good results fitting a USA-made neck on a MIM body; 3) check out the zinc neck-bolt inserts from Onyx Forge -- they help to provide a very stable fit, which enhances tone and sustain. Most of all, have fun and good luck!

Is there some trick involving, like, carbon paper or something of the like? Something that would mark off the remaining high spots on the neck itself so I would know exactly what to hit when I pull it back off the body? I am trying to come up with ideas like this and I'm not sure that any of them will work very well.


You can use a pencil to mark a pattern on the heel or pocket.

Use chalk (choose a darker colour). Rub it on your neck and fit the neck.

Hit the spots where the chalk is.

Way necks have been fitted for hundreds of years.

Thanks, y'all, for the input. I recently finished the build (documented in far too much detail here (http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/346086-total-newb-first-pinecaster-budget-build-murdercaster.html)) but the neck fit is still not 100% perfect, just a tiiiiiny notch high on the bass side when bolted in... although it's quite playable as is. I will give the chalk / heavy graphite trick a go.

I went with this neck because it had stuff that non-custom / off-the-shelf "officially licensed" necks did not, specifically a 14" radius and a thinner profile ("officially licensed" neck profiles are the bane of my coexistence with most Teles). Also, it was crazy cheap and good thusly for a first confidence-boosting build. It's really not a bad neck at all, save for this whole "didn't fit the pocket when I got it" thing.

To my surprise, when strung up, it really doesn't feel very different from a normal Tele neck, certainly not as different as I would have expected from its on-paper specs... wider / flatter, yes, but still too chunky-feeling / normal-Tele-feeling for me. So I'm already looking to replace it with something more to my personal taste-- and I'll probably have to go the Asian-eBay-mystery route a second time accordingly (that, or learn how'ta build it my own darn self).

(that, or learn how'ta build it my own darn self).

I vote for this option :razz:.

From your description and pictures in the other thread it almost seems like it's getting hung up on the bottom of the side of the neck pocket (doe's that make sense). Anyway I've used everything from finger nail files to strips of wood with sandpaper stuck on to tailor a neck pocket fit. Using the chalk method will work. I've only resorted to that once, not having any chalk I bought a bottle of the blue chalk that you refill chalk line markers with at my local hardware store. It worked great and was cheap. My neck pocket had blue chalk everywhere the neck touched the pocket.

Good luck.