Neck mounting screw holes - loose is better?

[Vaughan P]

Just got a mahogany tele body from a local luthier. When I mounted the neck, I realized that the 4 holes for the screws were so tight that the mounting screws actually bit into the wood of the body. Every other body I've mounted a neck on had screw holes so loose that the screws slid right through and only bit into the wood of the neck.
The tele sounds pretty good with the tight screw holes, and if I routed out the screw holes, there's no going back, so I thought I'd see what kind of experiences/opinions people had here.
Thanks
Vaughan P

 

[Tango]

Body holes ...... tight or loose...... that is the question ...... mmmmm?

My opinion is that this thread could get very bawdy, very quickly!!!

 

[Topper]

There is no mechanical reason to have the screws bite into the body as far as strength of the neck joint. Further, having inadequate clearance holes can cause problems like mis-alignment and the inability to draw the body/neck joint tight. I have enlarged the body holes for clearance when I encountered this.

 

[Michael Poche]

I've not seen that before: all bolt-ons I've ever owned only bit into the wood of the neck, not the body. In fact, it could be problematic for alignment purposes.. in general. If you're not having any problems, why change it now? Later, if you have to remove the neck for some reason and experience alignment woes, then you can go ahead and route out. I doubt the tight body holes are making the sound demonstrably better but, if it's working, why mess it up?

 

[Topper]

Its a cheap way to make it: The neck is clamped to the body, the holes are drilled through both at the same time and then screws run in - then the neck is unclamped. This works as long as you don't take it apart; it is almost impossible to get the joint actually tight again without enlarging the holes in the body.

 

[boris bubbanov]

There's no real way of knowing how much grip you've got there between the neck bolts and the neck itself. A lot of what you sense as tightness could simply be the screw binding against the wall of the body drill hole. The possibility of a void between the heel and the neck pocket where you can't see it, much higher this way.

If the guitar sounds great, you might just want to leave it alone. But your instincts are right. With tight body drill holes, there is no way to know how secure that neck really is.

I don't mind having to press the fastener through the drill hole in the body with my thumb, it needn't be goofy loose. Play the guitar a bit, and try and judge if it sounds all there.

Good luck,

 

[Jake D]

I've seen in where three screws slide clean through the body and the last screw meets a bit more resistance. I didn't let that bother me too much because I could justifiably assume that the other three loose screws would draw the neck tight.

 

[0le FUZZY]

...Better off fer them tew be loose.

...Whence yew put it together yew kin feel (or hear) the clunk of the old thread path in the neck hole whence yew screw the screws backerds fer a spell. If those holes are tew tite yew may make new threads inna neck and this leads tew looseness and mebby strip-out.




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[RodeoTex]

I like larger holes in the body to allow for a little side-to-side neck alignment if necessary. Every Squier I've seen has small holes in the body that the screws have to be turned into. I never saw any need for that.

 

[casterway]

I saw a G&L booklet recently at a guitar swap, that had set up specs. Interestingly, they suggest to string up and half tension the strings, and then loosen the neck screws, which allows the string tension to pull the neck tightly against the neck pocket. You then retighten the screws and tune up to full tension. Theoretically, this should help to keep the guitar in tune.

Whatchall think uh dat?

 

[blue metalflake]

Certainly if you think of this as a bolted joint, the body holes should have slight clearance.

I'm also a great believer in "if it ain't broke", so I wouldn't take the neck off just for this. Next time its off, open them enough to just clear.

 

[Ricky D.]

Open up the holes in the body for clearance the next time you have the neck off. Very difficult to assemble properly otherwise.