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Alligning Bridge w/ Pups w/ Neck?

ILiies
August 19th, 2012, 06:49 PM
Alright, so i posted earlier today about a Tele body i bought. And ive been thinking. I need to buy a neck, now does the nut width on the neck matter? Does it need to be a certain size if i were to by the Wilkinson 3 brass saddle bridge? And being as all the cavities are all pre cut, after the bridge is mounted, and pups are in, will the strings line up with the poles from the pups? AND! (Yeah i can be annoying), for the neck pick up on a telecaster, how do you confirm the poles are alligned with the strings, being as the poles arent visible (From what i understand).
Sorry if these are dumb questions, im more of a Les Paul/ SG/ Flying V... All around Gibson kinda guy, yet am finding these Fender designs very attractive lately.

jimdkc
August 19th, 2012, 07:15 PM
String spacing is pretty much set by the bridge... a small difference at the nut won't make much difference at the pickups.

As far as lining things up... the body centerline is your friend!

R. Stratenstein
August 19th, 2012, 07:19 PM
Alright, so i posted earlier today about a Tele body i bought. And ive been thinking. I need to buy a neck, now does the nut width on the neck matter? Does it need to be a certain size if i were to by the Wilkinson 3 brass saddle bridge? And being as all the cavities are all pre cut, after the bridge is mounted, and pups are in, will the strings line up with the poles from the pups? AND! (Yeah i can be annoying), for the neck pick up on a telecaster, how do you confirm the poles are alligned with the strings, being as the poles arent visible (From what i understand).
Sorry if these are dumb questions, im more of a Les Paul/ SG/ Flying V... All around Gibson kinda guy, yet am finding these Fender designs very attractive lately.

Welcome to the forum. Not dumb questions, exactly the same questions we all had building a T-style guitar at first.

Nut width does not matter. Order a neck with a nut width that feels good to your hand. Or to the hand of whoever you're making the guitar for.

No, the Wilkinson 3 saddle bridge is compatible with just about any neck that will fit into a Tele body.

There is a bit of a juggling act toward the latter stages of a build, in which you typically would clamp your neck in place, screw the bridge down with the pup mounted in it, mount the neck pup in the pickguard, and temporarialy assemble the whole thing. Then using straightedges, or temp. strings, check to make sure everything's in alignment. Strings are evenly spaced along the neck edge, the pups are centered under the strings, and strings are over the bridge pole pieces, the gaps between the bridge and pickguard are even and symmetrical, and that the half-moon cutout in the pickguard is evenly spaced around where the control panel plate will be. Adjust as necessary, and if neck and body holes are drilled, test with screws to be sure you can pull neck in with everything in alignment. If holes are not yet drilled, good time to mark them with everything in alignment.

It's not as daunting as it sounds. There is a good bit of leeway in the neck angle, and a little bit of movement in the bridge available, which can be manipulated by which screws you pull home tight, and in what order.

Your suppliers' products should have been produced from the same specs as everybody else, so they all should be a pretty close fit. Best results of course are from using the same supplier for the main parts, but again, stuff sold for a Tele should fit everybody else's Tele. But be sure to check!!!

ILiies
August 19th, 2012, 07:32 PM
Thanks for the help guys. I actually planned on buying the neck first, to make sure it fits in the pocket straight, rather than buy the hardware then come to find out its not going to work. As for buying from the same supplier, the body was bought online thirdhand (Atleast), and i plan on ordering most of the parts from Greasy Groove, the only problem with that is, i cant check to see if they fit before ordering, so im just gonna hope. All the holes are also already drilled, this is why im assuming everything should line up with a few minor adjustments.