Measurments for strat neck from edge of nut to end of the heel?

[asax]

Hi, I am planning my second build, a black strat with a flamed quartersawn maple neck.
I found the dimensions for the neck pocket on the warmouth site.


The neck blueprints I found don't give the length of the neck from the end of the heel (the part that sits in the pocket , not the fingerboard extension) to the edge of the nut.


I understand that if the heel is too long or too short the guitar will not intonate properly. If anyone knows the actual stock fender length I would appreciate it,
thanks!

 

[RickyRicardo]

I'm not sure what you mean by an extension. The heel is consistent from top to bottom.

Go to this site:
http://www.gitarrebassbau.de/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6&start=0

Scroll down to the Stratocaster section and get the 50's plan for a one piece or 60's for a two piece neck and print them out full size at Staples. Also get the Strat Body Blueprint and get that printed full size. That's what you use for making your templates so you don't really need to know the measurements. The measurements are already there on the plan and it's a standard size. Stick the plans on 1/4" MDF, trim and sand and you have templates.

Are you building the neck? If so you may want to read up on some of the build threads.
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/tele-home-depot/256935-%2Abuilding-one-piece-neck-ii%2A.html

This is a great series if you're building a Strat. There are 10 parts I think.

 

[guitarbuilder]

According to one of the Fender prints, the neck cavity is 3" plus or minus 1/32" long. That +/- is called tolerance... it doesn't have to be perfect just within those measurements. The strat neck meets the body at the 16th fret.

The stewmac fret calculator shows a distance from fret 16 to 21 as being 2.539" if you do the math with 21 frets and 25.5 scale. That makes the rest of the neck. .461" from the 21st fret slot to the end of the neck wood, assuming a 3" long neck cavity. The radius of the end of the neck is 5" blending into a .25" radius at the sides.


So.....from the nut edge to fret 21 is 17.919". From 21 to end of neck is .461"....making the sum of the two....18.38"... I hope that helps.

https://www.stewmac.com/FretCalculator

strat body

http://www.gitarrebassbau.de/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=6&start=0

 

[Jfellows]

I've always used 18-3/8, I think I measured that on my Strat at some point. I read somewhere else recently 18-7/16. I'm sure either would be fine because that 1/16 either way is within the adjustment range of the bridge saddles.

 

[koolaide]

I've always used 18-3/8, I think I measured that on my Strat at some point. I read somewhere else recently 18-7/16. I'm sure either would be fine because that 1/16 either way is within the adjustment range of the bridge saddles.

+1

 

[mcgeorgerl]

Funny. Been looking for that number myself since yesterday as I'm working on a fixture for necks. The other infuriating thing on the Strat neck drawing is that the starting point for the 5" neck heel radius is not on the print.


Just measured 4 necks today using the digital readout on the mill at work: 1 Mighty Mite Tele, 1 Warmoth Tele and 2 Warmoth Strats. A little tricky to set up since 3 of the fingerboards overhang the heel; only the MM is flush. Heels (both straight and radiused) were placed against a fixed stop and zeroed. I get 18.38 Min/18.41 Max for an over-all spread of 30 thou. Sanding, finish thickness and fingerboard positioning during gluing plus allowable tolerances in fabrication could explain some of the variance but .030 sounds like a lot to me.


Still, I wish the drawing had the number called out to 3 decimals. Unless I find something definite, I'm going to go with 18.390".


Tricky part for me is going to try and figure out how to rout the truss rod channel in the drawing's two radii: 255" and 115".

 

[017_017]

My American Standard is 18-7/16". An Allparts TRO-FAT I have is 467mm, which is nearest-makes-no-difference to 18-3/8".

Incidentally, the same webpage from Warmoth you got the heel dimensions from (http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/faq2.aspx), lists the nut to heel dimension you're looking for.