Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm new to the forum, so I hope this is the right place to post my question (in general for the sake of my problem and this forum).

I own a cheapy Johnson stratocaster copy guitar. My wife bought it for me a long time ago (first guitar) and it's got alot of sentimental value to it (e.g. wrote alot of song with it, gigged with it, been all over the world with me, to war with me in the desert and so on).

My problem is that the neck truss rod is toast on the stock neck. I've bought a replacement neck for it, but since that Johnson strat isnt Fender spec'd (particularly the neck pocket amongst other things) the replacement neck isnt going to work because the pocket is too wide and too deep by 1/4" or more.

From a repair standpoint: is it possible to somehow fill that neck pocket back up with a wood piece or something and re-route it or make custom pieces to glue and clamp into there to fix my big pocket issue so I can put that replacement neck on?

Any tips or comments are greatly appreciated.

I think I would route out the pocket into a shape that is easy to fill with a
new block (read: square - flat bottom, sides square to the bottom, and a
convenient depth), glueing in the fill block, triming/planing/scraping/
sanding to get it flush with the body, and then routing the new pocket
with one of the many available fender-style neck pocket routing jigs.

I should think that would certainly be a sound repair, and if you refinish
the body, it could also be a seamless repair.

Welcome to the forum. I'd like to help but I'm not the right guy. I'm sure the knowledgeable repair/electric guitar guys will happen over and be glad to answer your questions.

Good luck!

_________________
Joe Beaver
Maker of Sawdust

Would a 1/4" shim be too unacceptable for you?
That is one option.
You could add material to the "heel" of the neck.
That'd be option #2.
I guess the best would be to fill in the cavity and re-rout, and then touch up the finish. Depends on how sentimental you feel.

Welcome to the OLF!

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

Welcome to the OLF Adam!

Jays fix sound's like the deal. I guess it depends on how you want it to look. You could make a pretty solid fix that may work well but may also look kinda of crummy. Even if you filled in the bottom and the sides you'd want to get a routing template and the correct size bit to trim it up and level it off. If you think your going to tackle it give me a pm, I think I have a wooden template and some scrap maple I could give ya. You'll need a 3/8th template bit for the corners, anything bigger will give you a sloppy fit. And the neck pocket depth should be 5/8 inch deep.

What is the finish? is it opaque or transparent?

It seems to me that these fixes are not really optimal unless you can finish over it and make it absolutely invisible. Why don't you just get someone to make you a custom neck to fit the pocket. I think you would be happier with that in the long run. At least it will look right.

_________________
Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

Wow, I didnt expect quite the professional responses!

To try and answer everything in one post:

1) Brock, I'd like to have a custom neck made, *but* newbie me already purchased a Fender spec replacement neck for it not doing any measuring beforehand ;-)

2) Steve, I do like your shimming idea the best just because I have really no wood-working tools at all at my disposal.

...But in all actuality, I dont want it to look like crap either.

Dale, I think I might fill in that whole pocket. I do have alot of other work to fix on there as well, so buying the right tools are just part of the trade/hobby ;-)

Thanks alot for all your help and all the welcomes to the forum, as well.

[QUOTE=adosch]
2) Steve, I do like your shimming idea the best just because I have really no wood-working tools at all at my disposal.

...But in all actuality, I dont want it to look like crap either.

[/QUOTE]

Ah, well, just make a really slick shim!   

Steve

_________________
From Nacogdoches...the oldest town in Texas.

http://www.stephenkinnaird.com

I have done this fix on several Strat clones. Although, unless you get it repainted you'll probably see the fix. There's no reason why it should'nt work! It even can be done w/o repainting to look mediocre...sometimes.

This Warmoth guitar's neck pocket was way off. I put a big filler piece in, and just touched it up. It's my friends #1 now. And it's mostly black!

It depends on how comfortable you are re-routing that neck pocket. There are some really cheap neck replacements out there that will fit. Also, when you re-route make sure you consider your scale or you will have problems tuning and intonating the guitar ( if you aren't the right distance from the 12th fret to the saddle after you re-route).

_________________
Dave Bland

remember...

"If it doesn't play in tune...it's just pretty wood"

Dave-SKG/RichB/Steve K.,

Well, after some measuring and some reading in a few guitar repair books along with some googling (correct me if I'm wrong at any time):

A Fender spec'd neck pocket should be 5/8" deep, 3" long and 2 3/16 wide, right?

With that being said, I guess I way over-estimated my neck pocket issue. The measurements from my neck pocket on that Johnson strat body are: 3/4" deep, 3" long and 2 3/16" wide, with the left corner (the corner by the bottom cut-away) veering out 1/16".

...my daughter has these conveinient Mr Potatohead pressed cardboard memory game pieces that I used as simulation shims (they are exactly 1/16" thick) and I stack them in two's in the neck pocket to bring it up to 5/8" deep and it worked find and I put another card in that left corner and it was a snug fit in the pocket. (I didnt make sure it was aligned with the bridge perfectly)

So, I think its looking like I'll just need some shims glued, clamped and fitted in to get this job done, what do you think?