Question about neck pocket depth on standard fender guitars

[mjr428]

I have a question about neck pocket depth... The neck pocket depth on my build is a shade over 5/8" deep and the neck heel is about 1"... I'm concerned about this...

Granted, the saddles are flat to the bridge plate, but is it normal to have roughly an 1/8" clearance to the top of tge saddle? The neck has pretty small frets too. I plan on replacing with jumbo frets at some point. Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

[Meteorman]

Flat Shim in neck pocket to bring it to spec

 

[mjr428]

Flat Shim in neck pocket to bring it to spec

My concern is that the neck pocket is not deep enough...

 

[Ronkirn]

the way you are "measuring" fails to factor the height the strings will actually reflect.. they will be about 1/8th higher..

But nominal depth for most fenders was 5/8ths.. if your's is a crack deeper,, just shim it.. it's nada biggie and SOP in the 50's and 60's..

I actually see no problem with yours..


rk

 

[Captain Nutslot]

Maybe make one of these.

Pic from the web. Googled strat tremolo shim

 

[TimTam]

Wind the saddles up to mid-height. See where your straight edge is then. Ideally should hit just below the front edge of the saddle. So your strings will be a tad higher than that, to sit on the saddle. If that doesn't happen for saddles set to mid-height, it just has to happen within the available working range of saddle height. String it up with high and low E if you want to be more sure.

 

[guitarbuilder]

Standard specs are 5/8" deep with a 1" thick heel. You say" a shade" and" about ". If your neck is thicker, you may want to rout the neck cavity deeper. It all depends on how much movement your saddles are capable of moving. Fender had tolerances and you can too, but if both parts are off, you may want to make them " on" and that is more easily done with the body neck cavity.

 

[mjr428]

Ok, thanks y'all! That helps... I may have to take a little bit more out of the neck pocket... I just want to get feedback before I start taking out more wood

 

[Meteorman]

So your neck heel is 1”. Your neck pocket is already deeper than 5/8”, and you’re gonna make it deeper. Something ain’t adding up in tele land.

 

[Mat UK]

I don’t understand why adjusting the height screws on the saddles isn’t the solution... that’s what they’re there for..?

 

[TRexF16]

I recommend you don't cut anything. If the neck pocket is a good flat bottomed 5/8" deep, parallel to the plane of the top, and the neck is 1" thick, any Fender(ish) bridges are going to work fine. If it's already a tad deep for sure don't make it deeper. The pics you posted look fine to me.

Rex

 

[Ronkirn]

I may have to take a little bit more out of the neck pocket...

Check, Check, and double check first... the overhang on your neck to allow for the 22nd fret has to clear the pickguard. otherwise when ya tighten the neck mounting screws it's gonna pry the fingerboard loose and the last few frets will be too high... but at least they will reward ya with that pleasant buzz sound when playing above the 12th fret...

you should have at the very least .100 clearance between the bottom of the fingerboard ledge an the surface of the guitar before installing the PG, which is .090 thick for a multi-ply ..

rk