How important is the neck pocket?

[dragonfly66]

I have a Squier 51 and the neck isn't snug against both sides and it looks like it isn't completely flush in back on one side. I need to take off the neck to see why it isn't flush, maybe it's some paint. I know you want the best contact between the neck and body so the back of the neck not being flush bothers me, but what about the sides? Is this a big deal in terms of tone?

 

[dman]

My understanding is that the coupling between the neck heel and the sides of the pocket are the least important, then the neck heel end and the pocket bottom side. The interface between the heel face and the pocket floor is very important, though...make sure both are smooth and flat and mate up snugly.

I hope that makes sense!

 

[dragonfly66]

I think you mean the back and bottom of the neck, indicated in this beautiful drawing.

 

[Wileyone]

I think you mean the back and bottom of the neck, indicated in this beautiful drawing.

I think by that drawing you may have to ad a shim or two.

 

[Nobody 123]

Squier 51's are awesome.

 

[hal]

You have to have a tight neck pocket to play in the pocket.



Not really. But I believe it effects sustain and maybe tuning. I played a strat once that was so loose at the neck it would shift and go out of tune.

 

[dman]

I think you mean the back and bottom of the neck, indicated in this beautiful drawing.

Yep, that's what I meant. I was going to use technical jargon like "gizmo", but then I wouldn't understand what I meant!

 

[Tuxedo Poly]

The paint sprayers don't seem too good at masking off and keeping the neck pocket clear of overspray and runs.

This is a MIM Standard Tele showing what can happen. If you have this then carefully remove the excess paint without removing it from the edges where bare wood would be visible.
Another tip is after you reassemble and restring, slacken the neck fixing screws off a quarter turn so the tension pulls the neck tightly into the pocket and then re-tighten them.

 

[roycaster]

It’s a bolt on neck. It makes no difference in sustain or tone. I wouldn’t worry about it…

 

[Vizcaster]

OK let's just ignore roycaster's baiting and go back to Tuxedo's excellent advice.

The trick about slacking the screws and letting the neck settle in (and don't be worried by the sickening creak sound it sometimes makes) is something that John Suhr has always done with his guitars.

 

[Ricky D.]

Run an 11/64" bit through the neck mounting screw holes in the body to be sure you have a clearance fit for the screws. If those holes are a little small (and they often are), the screws will bind in the body, and the neck won't draw down tight.

Good advice above from Tuxedo Poly.

And Roycaster's not wrong. You'll have 4 strong steel screws pulling that neck in tight in a nice clean pocket. The butt end of that neck is NOT going to vibrate unless the body vibrates with it.

 

[boris bubbanov]

The thing that sets Squier 51s apart from most of the other models we play...............

Is that the hard shell finish acts as an exoskeleton and reinforces a very soft and punky "basswood" body. These range from moderately OK to incredibly soft and crumbly material. We're had guys on the Squier 51 Board who have ACTUALLY broken their bodies in half or more, just doing basic routing on them.

Normally I encourage guys to clean out all the crud in the neck pocket, down to solid wood but there IS sometimes no solid wood. Ream out the holes, Like Ricky D says, and smooth the paint in the pocket, clean the underside of the heel and reset the neck as laid out in Carzee's famous thread. But ignore Ricky's comment about Roycaster being right. Roycaster is wrong, most of the time, what he says above. :^) There's room for improvement on most bolt neck guitars, other than switching pickups and I've seen so much of it to say no.

 

[dragonfly66]

I have tried two other necks on this 51 body and the only neck that fits right is the original neck so I am leaving it on there. The two other necks (La Cabronita neck and CV 50s neck) when screwed in were not even hitting the bottom of the pocket, which lets me know the holes are not in the same place, weird. 51s seem to all be different, I have have 5 of these now and none of the pickguards could be swapped so I am guessing that this guitar just needs to live original. It is definitely not bad in its original state, it is just thought nice I had a nicer neck I would give it a try. Not really worth the effort to make it fit.

 

[robertlightinin]

11

OK let's just ignore roycaster's baiting and go back to Tuxedo's excellent advice.

The trick about slacking the screws and letting the neck settle in (and don't be worried by the sickening creak sound it sometimes makes) is something that John Suhr has always done with his guitars.

Mine goes to 11. Don't touch it.....Don't even look at it.

 

[Greg.Coal]

Mine goes to 11. Don't touch it.....Don't even look at it.

Excellent first post, Robert Lightinin!