My grandfather told me many years ago that the difference between a woodworker and a craftsman is that a craftsman knows how to hide his mistakes. Thanks for sharing some alternative ways for us to hide ours.
Saw the body on the centerline, and glue the pieces together again. The wood removed by the cut will narrow the neckpocket. Probably more work, but if well performed the repair is invisible.
Good advice as long as you don't have bridge holes, pickguard holes and pickup pockets drilled. Still think that putting some veneer in there is much faster and easier to do.
I've done the same mistake before. I routed the neck pocket to wide. I fixed it by taking a piece of wood, from the body blank, and glued it in place and re-routed the neck pocket. Worked just fine and managed to match the grain perfect!
This convinced me to go back and rework my neck pocket instead of depending on a shim. As mentioned, it is truly part of the fun (and satisfaction) of the process. Thank you....again!
I learn so much from your channel! Wood glue and saw dust! Genius! I really do want to come take a class from y'all one day on person. It's unfortunate that the US and the UK are not just next door. But until then your videos are like a master class in luthiering (is that the right term lol) every day! Ben you are the best!
Have had this come up on parts guitars w parts from different makers. One quick and simple fix that is esp easy w bolt on neck is to coat the heel of neck w paste wax or something else that glue won't adhere to but can be kept very thin, attach neck and then fill gap w epoxy or glue/dust mix. Cosmetic clean up still needs to be addressed to the extent merited by project but it gets done fast and w a very precise fit w minimal fuss.
I'm putting a 56mm neck into a 57.5mm neck pocket. What I've done is used thick craft card to shim both sides of the neck pocket. I've superglued three pieces of card either side. The neck fits snug. I'm waiting on a pick guard before my final build. I think there might be a little 1mm gap visible either side of the neck but I can live with that.
After I removed the poly finish on my Tele body and neck there was a small gap on all sides of a few mill so I used used a tiny construction paper thin piece of ply on all sides of the pocket and it worked swimmingly
Sorry to double comment. Found a really cool solution for a neck that was paper thin too big. Took a hand planer. Made the blade a wee bit more then normal (deeper). Plane out a really nice single shaving.. Using a planer width larger the the depth of the neck your making smaller. So wood shaving looks like a little piece of wood tape big enough to cover the sides of the neck pocket in one strip. Take the shaving wet it. .(Gently not soaked.) I used warm water... Then flatter out with a good metal ruler and a weight on top... Which..... create a strip of wood a big thicker then paper. Sense it's a strip and thing.. You glue it up on the pocket side (including the back) and form fit the strip on the neck pocket sides. Then just thumb it down till it literally looks like it's almost part of the wood and dry. Sand.. Repeat.. Until your neck pocket fits the neck. I used the same wood to make the chisel shaving strips. Looks awesome.. Cant even tell.. No lines cause the strips bond in perfectly.. it's not some ugly ass shim. Thanks man.. love the show hope that helps anybody
I almost hate to give this up but whatever, I’ll do it. For stuff like this, I like to use this stuff called “quikwood”. It’s an epoxy-like substance that comes in a tube. You knead the stuff in your fingers, mix it together nicely, apply and in an hour you have new “wood” there. You can dye it, paint it, chisel it, drill it, glue it, whatever...it’s basically wood. I’ve had repairs come in that the guys thought were utter lost causes and I can tell them with confidence that I can make it good as new... You’re welcome hahah
Bro, 6 years later and this tip will still be used. I have a neck from DR Parts that I had lying around and a tele body that someone gave me. The neck is about 2mm smaller than the neck pocket. I was considering putting in a new wood in the pocket and rerouting it, but I was putting this off for the longest of time because of the effort of doing this. If this works the guitar will be finished sooner! A LOT sooner. Thanks!
@@acelightninggaming Wooooo, hell yeah man. Just take your time and build it up slowly. If you need to chisel away a little here and there because you added too much, no biggie. It’ll still be better than the old factory fenders. Some of those guitars had picks stuffed into the neck pockets for shimming and alteration. QW will give you a much nicer connection once you have it the way you want it.
I've used the dust/glue technique before and worked very well - I put one tightly and carefully wrapped (to avoid wrinkles) piece of shrink wrap/cling film around the heel of the neck and clamped in place in the pocket to mould the glue-dust to the shape of the neck and pocket. When dry I removed the neck, removed the cling film and had a perfectly snug pocket.
Just a thought: traditionally in woodworking when cutting a mortise type joint you would use one part to mark out the other. So the neck would be made as required, then used to mark the neck pocket, which would be cut under-size, then the neck fitted. Saves on errors and having to repair mistakes.
I’ve glued thin veneer, sometimes multiple layers in the pocket on one side or both.. I’ve also used thick black super glue to fill it in, then file it to fit.. that’s okay on a painted guitar
The couple of times I managed to bung up the neck pocket, I just routed straight through into the neck pickup route and glued in a straight block of wood for a snug fit and a good grain match. Probably wouldn't be as effective on a set-neck, though.
Hi ,I do respect your opinion on fixing a large neck pocket, for anything to do with tonewood filling I have always used a mixture of superglue and wood dust. You know ,squeeze superglue and sprinkle dust straight after and so on until desired thickness is achieved. What u end up with is a rock hard filling four times stronger than the wood itself and this is before it's even dried properly. The colour may be different but most guitars will be painted after. Thanks.
I really like the bit at 2.40, made me laugh (with you). I was watching late at night and was drifting off and when you said those words it made me wake up and laugh. Great stuff.
I'm building my first guitar (out of a cheap, chinese kit) this video is quite helpful. My neck, when inserted into the pocket appear to be on a slope down, it's not perfectly flat and parallel. Is it meant to be that way?
If it's a carved body like a Les Paul? Yes. There's usually a four (4) degree angle, plus (+) or minus (-) one (1) degree. Strat and Tele style guitars are pretty much anywhere from zero (0) degrees all the way up to five (5) degrees depending upon if they need shimmed or not.
Hi (G'day) Ben, Regarding the neck pocket issue, on your "taking a cheap kit guitar" series of videos I saw that it looked like you added some material to the neck itself as well as the neck pocket (adding laminate), please could you elaborate on that part of the process which I assume was to bring everything to do with the neck joint back to a level playing field. Is it best to add material to the neck or to the pocket?Cheers Nick (Australia)
If it's a bolt on neck, couldn't you just put a ton of poly or something in there? It would work for the same reason that you are supposed to masking tape it up normally, right?
I know this is an old post but I have a problem. I had to sand all the ink off my body and start over again. When I got to the horn I had to use a dremel. I was being very careful not to let it sand grooves . Well I wasn't thinking and managed to sand down too much of the side pocket. According to my caliper the neck is sticking out 2.40mm. The neck still tightens and doesn't move and is aligned. Do you think this is gonna cause a problem?
Just recently acquired a 7 string tele body. 7 strings useless to me I can't play the ones I've got so I did a shim either side and a superglue and dust just as you explained. Worked perfectly. I will of course spray it a solid color to hide the fact. Great video.
My friend found a bronze age chisel whilst metal detecting around cressing temple. It's remarkably similar in form to a modern tanged chisel. I think of it when i am finding a woodworking task difficult and remind myself I have the tools woodworking folk of the past could've only dreamt of.
Cressing Temple Barn is one of my favourite places of all time.. so damn beautiful! And wow.. I would give my eye teeth for a bronze age woodworking tool, so cool! B
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars If crimson are ever on tour near essex again, I'll be sure to attend and bring it with me so you can have an oogle at it. How's that for bribery? It's a wonderful place, gives all kind of ideas for a knights templar guitar build..
Is this potentially a valid place to consider “glassing in”? Use cling-film to protect the neck and prevent it adhering and fill the cavity with a liquid epoxy? The hard resin should transmit the vibrations well and will perfectly match the neck.
What about a painted Floyd Rose Jackson Rhoads copy that has a neck pocket way too big and it don't have any sort of neck angle built in? I've looked on TH-cam and everybody is doing Strat style guitars. Is it best to reroute the pocket to get rid of the paint and fill it in and start afresh?
I'm a band instrument repair specialist as well as a luthier and have done on site repairs quite a bit for school band concerts and All State performances and the like. It can be fun! As well as annoying at times. Especially when a teacher comes to the table saying something along the lines of, "My first chair violinist just dropped this... (Hands me a violin with a cracked seam and the tone peg is rolling around) Can you have it ready in fifteen minutes?"
Recently I broke the headstock of my 12 string acoustic guitar. I had a little lost of wood when I was trying to glue it for the first time. On the first time, I made a huge mistake by using superglue. It didn't work and I had to separate the headstock from the neck, and then a bit of wood at the joints was lost. I decided to use then a very hard epoxy resin and it filled the gap and holds really nice the headstock. I've learned that slow curing epoxy resin fills all the gaps and the sound transferring is excellent. I recently did some other stuff with epoxy resin and I find it very similar to hide glue
If the gap(s) are very small, you might be able to swell the wood in the joint and/or neck by dampening it with water. I inadvertently did this when wet sanding a body and ended up with the opposite problem, the formerly fitted neck was now too tight.
Hi ben is it not possable to measure the neck pocket cut a piece of wood to the same size make the neck template but make it wider where it conects to the neck pocket not forgeting to use the center line for a solid conection ?
Hello from Boston MA! I bought this offset first act guitar and planned on putting a squier strat neck on it, I don't mind filling and routing the pocket but I would like to use something like an epoxy or bondo. What should I do?
I am currently building a guitar, and while the neck heel fits well, it's sides are a little uneven (no 90 angle). Cutting it to straighten is making it worse in thic particular situation. What if I cover the heel in duct tape, put in the pocket, and then use sawdust+glue combo? Thus I will fix the pocket to be tight around the heel, and the heel won't be glued in. Should I try it this way? I really don't want to ruin my first baby. :)
You could also mount a Fender Strat style plate on the back to hide the lines. You can go to a trophy shop and they will engrave whatever you want on the plate not to mention that's where you can get the plate in the first place.
So just covering the sides with titebond and wood dust didn't work for me. I made it much worse after sanding it too much. You say measurements before cutting are the way to go but how do you measure in the first place, I've measured and messed up anyhow.
th-cam.com/video/hjnmW1Q4QI0/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/uINEhdGFPSk/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/EIFj7xsQ8Qw/w-d-xo.html th-cam.com/video/mjih5uSY9pQ/w-d-xo.html I hope this helps. DC
Hey Ben Im modifying the first guitar i ever bought and I wanted to put a new neck on it. The neck i want to put on it is a strat style neck and has a curved bottom but my guitar came with a squared off neck joint. Both are the same width, height and length (at the mid point) Would i be better off filling the gap with epoxy or gluing in a new piece of wood and re cutting it? Thanks
What if you cut a new piece of wood Glued it fully into the neck pocket Cut a sqaure in the body.. Splice a square of wood into the the whole (same wood or at least type of wood).. So it bonds to the body like it was part of the blank? And then re-route the neck pocket?
Kia ora Ben, I just made my first guitar! :) Turns out as a complete novice as far as using the instrument I have made the neck/fretboard far far too wide. What is the best way to remedy this? Convert to 7 string? bandsaw 8mm off both sides? can I cut through the frets with the bandsaw? What to I do where the neck meets the body, razor saw and a chisel? Cheers, Jake
+jacobthellamer oooh, good question sir :) I'll cover this fully ( I hope) in podcast 129. for now though it is either refret and while the frets are out change the width, convert to eight string or so (drone strings will always be cool in my book!) or, carefully and slowly, cut down to size on a bandsaw loaded with a 14tpi or finer metal cutting blade.. if you go slow you could avoid damaging the frets too much, though if you push hard it may well just rip the frets through the neck :( option 3.. or 4? is to cut the fret ends down to size with a dremel at just slightly wider than you want to end up, bandsaw up to that point then file from then on.. most important, let me know how it went!! :)
jacobthellamer hi are you using an ankle grinder for the 8mm.just hide the dust that could come....how do you with this guitar my first guitar now has a similar problem.cheers
I'm in this exact predicament currently: When I was a bit younger (16 or so iirc) I wasn't allowed to use a router, so I attempted to do it with a set of chisels, and honestly didn't do too bad of a job, but it just was slightly too large, and I haven't touched it since. I am now 20 so I think I'll purchase myself a nice router and route a clean pocket that's about 5mm larger than the neck, place a piece of lighter wood in (using swamp ash for this build, so will most likely put some maple or something in) and that way when I route the correct size pocket for the neck and it's in it'll look like a nice contour sort of like binding. Thoughts anyone?
I like the idea to dead man and reroute. Perhaps do so with intent of a contrasting wood similar to the binding idea. Dust and glue isn’t horrible for very small voids and I use it a lot. Like as I clean up squeeze out on long miters for instance. But bolt on neck is necessarily the right application. Resaw the body reasonable too, but could have some caveats.
I am attempting to make a bass, but the body is too thin. When I create my neck pocket I believe that I will only have about 11 millimetres, or as imperial users go about 29/64ths of wood left to bolt the neck to. Should I glue wood to the back of the body, underneath the neck pocket in order to help with strength of the neck pocket? it might look a little weird, but I believe I can shape it to be comfortable. I am going to use a neck plate, and about 5 or six screws and the pocket is fairly long. Is this a bad idea? thanks to anyone who can help!!
Bloody good idea! Not clay though, 2 part putty. Cover the pocket and neck in cling film. Put in putty and then the neck at the right angle, wait to cure and remove clingfilm.. perfect shim with near 100.percent contact! Awesome! B
Thank you! The issue I've run into is a pocket too deep on a new bass body. Like an eighth of an inch too deep for a Fender spec bass neck. A big ass wood shim is so visible but this idea of wood putty and cling wrap is the best so far.
Had the same issue but it was not of my doing. Bought a licensed neck and body from two different suppliers, and they did not fit as tightly as I would like. My tech is shimming the sides of the pocket with maple and sand to fit, as you mentioned. Looking forward to more on improving kit type guitars
So picture the scene, I have a 21 fret telecaster neck rounded at the heel and I need to fit it to a standard (square) telecaster body. What do I do? Please help
put it in place to see whether you need to add material to the neck pocket to fill the corners or cut the end of the neck off flat while the scale length is correct. you can add more wood and then use a routing template to rout to the correct cavity size and position if needed but it really depends entirely on the scale length
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Ben, I can’t add material to the neck pocket cos the scratch plate runs along the same line as the pocket, so it looks like trimming it down but I don’t want to ruin it. I realise by sanding it I am reducing the length of the neck.
Hi Ben! Recently, by accident, I routed the truss rod pochet a bit crooked in the neck I'm working on. It is centered on the body end but about 3 mm off at the headstock end. I unfortunately didnt notice until I glued the fretboard on. Is there a way to repair it? If I leave it like that, will the neck still be usable? Thanks for your help
+Jose Sanchez Disclaimer: I have no experience building necks. From a physics point of view it shouldn't be too bad. You'd get a similar thing with asymmetrical necks which have more material on one side of the truss rod than the other. It is pulling a slight twist in it but when you stop and think about it so are the strings where the bass side has more tension than the treble. If you skewed it in the right direction you may even have a more balanced neck than usual because of that. As for repair, I imagine that'd be remove the fretboard, fill the hole, redo. Those with experience will know better of course but that is my reasoning on the matter from the physics side.
+Allan McKenzie Thanks Allan! That's exactly what I was thinking, actually it is more to the treble side unfortunately... I think I'll leave it like that, see what happens, and if needed go with removing the fretboard, filling and redoing. Thanks again for the suggestions. This is my first official guitar and I'm a bit discouraged that this kind of stupid mistakes happen.
+Jose Sanchez Don't be discouraged by stupid mistakes. They happen all the time (and I'm really good at them haha). Its what you do with them after that matters. Whats the worst that could happen? You mess up and learn another method that doesn't work. As it was said when inventing the lightbulb "I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work."
+Jose Sanchez I agree with Allan but will see if we can come up with more to say in podcast 131... and mistakes are what make this job nad help you learn, they are great things in the log run imo
You can do several things.. refret and put a smaller bevel on the ends of the frets this widening the playing surface. Or you can adjust the nut or even (on a tunematic) saddle slots to compress the strings a bit. Or you can adjust the neck pocket and twist the neck along the centre line to.a point where the strings line up properly.. good luck! B
Use a 3d printer and print a shim!! i have done this, it works fine, DON'T use PLA for this, use ABS or simmilar hard and stable high temp plastics. it can be printed in any shape, off to a side, or even around the neck .
+heihachi edajima I suppose technically you could, though I'm not sure why you would want to. I love neck through guitars. Just my opinion. But you would probably have to remove the fretboard and then cut the neck off at the point where the pocket would start. And then rout out your pocket from there. You would also have to take into consideration any carving on the back of the body. I actually just had an idea last night of doing the exact opposite in a way. I was thinking about what it would take to turn a set neck into a through or deep set neck by carving out a space in the back of a guitar for a scarf joint and then cutting a matching receiving section out of the neck and putting the two together with a joining piece that matches the cuts you make.
Would it be prudent to just make some shims and stuff them in, possibly wood glue them in place? I have a cheap eBay DIY bass kit, and the neck pocket is absolutely atrocious... I managed to get the thing installed straight, but the gap on the E-string side measures .026" and G-string side is .030", according to my feelie gauges... I also picked up a stick of both maple and meranti ("Phillippine Mahogany", which is my best guess to the actual "mahogany" species used in this "mahogany" body), which I could use for shim material, but I'm also wondering which would be the better material; the more dense, less porous maple, or the more porous, lighter weight meranti?
take brown construction paper and fold it until it gets thick enough to get a nice tight fit in the pocket then soak it in a thinned wood glue. Tape off the guitar with painters tape and Press the neck into place and let it dry for a couple days. sand and finish..
Hello from the US my colonial cousin. I love your videos. I have watched dozens of them including some of the builds start to finish and they've given me a lot of confidence that I can build my own...that being said...I'm fairly certain you may have ADD lol
hello I'll have had to cut the hole pocket part and glue it again onto the rest of the body of the guitar with screws also.like the matter build from Ben he build with the metal pieces.peace
thanks for the help dude, building my first guitar and about to cut the neck pocket, I'm nervous. Btw I like the crazy tattoos on your head and the very proper way of speaking, Manchester?
...It would be easier to offer a suggestion if we knew just how much of a gap he has to deal with...but I'd go with the foremost and the last suggestions...if it is small, shim it (evenly) with veneer and if it's big, bodge it and bind it...
if you make a repair using the thin power and wood glue mix, can you stain it? or will it be obvious... assuming of course the damage is on a visible part of the guitar body, not the neck pocket.
It's generally pretty obvious, stain hardly ever reacts the same over filler, though you can go back with a paint brush and fix it if you have the patience/ are a genius artist :)
My grandfather told me many years ago that the difference between a woodworker and a craftsman is that a craftsman knows how to hide his mistakes. Thanks for sharing some alternative ways for us to hide ours.
+Mark Lindsay now that is a pearl of wisdom that you may well find coming out of my mouth in the not too distant future! Thank you sir :)
Saw the body on the centerline, and glue the pieces together again. The wood removed by the cut will narrow the neckpocket. Probably more work, but if well performed the repair is invisible.
+Paul Vréke This should be the top reply!! So simple and beautiful :)
Good advice as long as you don't have bridge holes, pickguard holes and pickup pockets drilled. Still think that putting some veneer in there is much faster and easier to do.
Sometimes the most obvious solutions are the ones most often overlooked. I can't think of a better way to do it. Nice going.
What about the pick up cavity would that not be too small and need resizing?
That's exactly what I will do since I am using a solid paint to finish it with. What a brilliant solution.
My neck pocket was too large to fill with Sawdust and glue so I filled it with a 1954 Les Paul. Turned out spectacular!!
I've done the same mistake before. I routed the neck pocket to wide. I fixed it by taking a piece of wood, from the body blank, and glued it in place and re-routed the neck pocket. Worked just fine and managed to match the grain perfect!
This convinced me to go back and rework my neck pocket instead of depending on a shim. As mentioned, it is truly part of the fun (and satisfaction) of the process. Thank you....again!
I had to fix this problem on my first build. I used shims in the neck pocket and hid my mistake under a custom pick guard cut very tight to the neck.
I learn so much from your channel! Wood glue and saw dust! Genius! I really do want to come take a class from y'all one day on person. It's unfortunate that the US and the UK are not just next door. But until then your videos are like a master class in luthiering (is that the right term lol) every day! Ben you are the best!
Thank you. We will keep on making the videos and maybe one day you will be in What's on the Bench. DC
I laughed hard at the "gaffa tape is the gaffe tape of the luthier's world". That timing and look on your was perfect!
Love your sense of humor, I not only learn but laugh my ass off in the process!!
Hey, I used the veneer suggestion to fix my neck/body problem on my latest strat build. Once I painted it, the alteration is undetectable. Thanks!
Have had this come up on parts guitars w parts from different makers. One quick and simple fix that is esp easy w bolt on neck is to coat the heel of neck w paste wax or something else that glue won't adhere to but can be kept very thin, attach neck and then fill gap w epoxy or glue/dust mix. Cosmetic clean up still needs to be addressed to the extent merited by project but it gets done fast and w a very precise fit w minimal fuss.
I'm putting a 56mm neck into a 57.5mm neck pocket. What I've done is used thick craft card to shim both sides of the neck pocket. I've superglued three pieces of card either side. The neck fits snug. I'm waiting on a pick guard before my final build. I think there might be a little 1mm gap visible either side of the neck but I can live with that.
After I removed the poly finish on my Tele body and neck there was a small gap on all sides of a few mill so I used used a tiny construction paper thin piece of ply on all sides of the pocket and it worked swimmingly
Sorry to double comment. Found a really cool solution for a neck that was paper thin too big.
Took a hand planer. Made the blade a wee bit more then normal (deeper). Plane out a really nice single shaving.. Using a planer width larger the the depth of the neck your making smaller. So wood shaving looks like a little piece of wood tape big enough to cover the sides of the neck pocket in one strip.
Take the shaving wet it. .(Gently not soaked.) I used warm water... Then flatter out with a good metal ruler and a weight on top... Which..... create a strip of wood a big thicker then paper. Sense it's a strip and thing.. You glue it up on the pocket side (including the back) and form fit the strip on the neck pocket sides. Then just thumb it down till it literally looks like it's almost part of the wood and dry. Sand.. Repeat.. Until your neck pocket fits the neck. I used the same wood to make the chisel shaving strips.
Looks awesome.. Cant even tell.. No lines cause the strips bond in perfectly.. it's not some ugly ass shim.
Thanks man.. love the show hope that helps anybody
I almost hate to give this up but whatever, I’ll do it. For stuff like this, I like to use this stuff called “quikwood”. It’s an epoxy-like substance that comes in a tube. You knead the stuff in your fingers, mix it together nicely, apply and in an hour you have new “wood” there. You can dye it, paint it, chisel it, drill it, glue it, whatever...it’s basically wood. I’ve had repairs come in that the guys thought were utter lost causes and I can tell them with confidence that I can make it good as new...
You’re welcome hahah
Is there any way to have the new pocket mold to the neck? Or do you still have to route the pocket out again?
You beauty, I have a Tele with the pocket uneven under the neck, will this stuff work?
Gersh
Absolutely, I use quikwood for that kind of stuff all the time.
Bro, 6 years later and this tip will still be used. I have a neck from DR Parts that I had lying around and a tele body that someone gave me. The neck is about 2mm smaller than the neck pocket. I was considering putting in a new wood in the pocket and rerouting it, but I was putting this off for the longest of time because of the effort of doing this. If this works the guitar will be finished sooner! A LOT sooner. Thanks!
@@acelightninggaming
Wooooo, hell yeah man. Just take your time and build it up slowly. If you need to chisel away a little here and there because you added too much, no biggie. It’ll still be better than the old factory fenders. Some of those guitars had picks stuffed into the neck pockets for shimming and alteration. QW will give you a much nicer connection once you have it the way you want it.
I've used the dust/glue technique before and worked very well - I put one tightly and carefully wrapped (to avoid wrinkles) piece of shrink wrap/cling film around the heel of the neck and clamped in place in the pocket to mould the glue-dust to the shape of the neck and pocket. When dry I removed the neck, removed the cling film and had a perfectly snug pocket.
Just a thought: traditionally in woodworking when cutting a mortise type joint you would use one part to mark out the other. So the neck would be made as required, then used to mark the neck pocket, which would be cut under-size, then the neck fitted. Saves on errors and having to repair mistakes.
+Stephen Gent that's how we tend to do it here, custom neck pockets almost every time..
I’ve glued thin veneer, sometimes multiple layers in the pocket on one side or both.. I’ve also used thick black super glue to fill it in, then file it to fit.. that’s okay on a painted guitar
The couple of times I managed to bung up the neck pocket, I just routed straight through into the neck pickup route and glued in a straight block of wood for a snug fit and a good grain match. Probably wouldn't be as effective on a set-neck, though.
What would putting really thin sheet metal in the space do? I wonder if it would dampen the vibration or prolong it.
Hi ,I do respect your opinion on fixing a large neck pocket, for anything to do with tonewood filling I have always used a mixture of superglue and wood dust. You know ,squeeze superglue and sprinkle dust straight after and so on until desired thickness is achieved. What u end up with is a rock hard filling four times stronger than the wood itself and this is before it's even dried properly. The colour may be different but most guitars will be painted after. Thanks.
I really like the bit at 2.40, made me laugh (with you). I was watching late at night and was drifting off and when you said those words it made me wake up and laugh. Great stuff.
I'm building my first guitar (out of a cheap, chinese kit) this video is quite helpful. My neck, when inserted into the pocket appear to be on a slope down, it's not perfectly flat and parallel. Is it meant to be that way?
If it's a carved body like a Les Paul? Yes. There's usually a four (4) degree angle, plus (+) or minus (-) one (1) degree. Strat and Tele style guitars are pretty much anywhere from zero (0) degrees all the way up to five (5) degrees depending upon if they need shimmed or not.
Hi (G'day) Ben, Regarding the neck pocket issue, on your "taking a cheap kit guitar" series of videos I saw that it looked like you added some material to the neck itself as well as the neck pocket (adding laminate), please could you elaborate on that part of the process which I assume was to bring everything to do with the neck joint back to a level playing field. Is it best to add material to the neck or to the pocket?Cheers Nick (Australia)
If it's a bolt on neck, couldn't you just put a ton of poly or something in there? It would work for the same reason that you are supposed to masking tape it up normally, right?
Can you build up finish on neck and guitar to get a tighter fit?
I know this is an old post but I have a problem. I had to sand all the ink off my body and start over again. When I got to the horn I had to use a dremel. I was being very careful not to let it sand grooves . Well I wasn't thinking and managed to sand down too much of the side pocket. According to my caliper the neck is sticking out 2.40mm. The neck still tightens and doesn't move and is aligned. Do you think this is gonna cause a problem?
Just recently acquired a 7 string tele body. 7 strings useless to me I can't play the ones I've got so I did a shim either side and a superglue and dust just as you explained. Worked perfectly. I will of course spray it a solid color to hide the fact. Great video.
didn't Ben said Not to use superglue but white glue? because it Chaves changes the color.
but are 70's fender neck pockets fixable?
My friend found a bronze age chisel whilst metal detecting around cressing temple. It's remarkably similar in form to a modern tanged chisel. I think of it when i am finding a woodworking task difficult and remind myself I have the tools woodworking folk of the past could've only dreamt of.
Cressing Temple Barn is one of my favourite places of all time.. so damn beautiful! And wow.. I would give my eye teeth for a bronze age woodworking tool, so cool! B
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars If crimson are ever on tour near essex again, I'll be sure to attend and bring it with me so you can have an oogle at it. How's that for bribery? It's a wonderful place, gives all kind of ideas for a knights templar guitar build..
I’m wondering if a small space in this area of the guitar helps resonance? Is the possible?
Is this potentially a valid place to consider “glassing in”? Use cling-film to protect the neck and prevent it adhering and fill the cavity with a liquid epoxy? The hard resin should transmit the vibrations well and will perfectly match the neck.
What about a painted Floyd Rose Jackson Rhoads copy that has a neck pocket way too big and it don't have any sort of neck angle built in? I've looked on TH-cam and everybody is doing Strat style guitars. Is it best to reroute the pocket to get rid of the paint and fill it in and start afresh?
I'm a band instrument repair specialist as well as a luthier and have done on site repairs quite a bit for school band concerts and All State performances and the like. It can be fun! As well as annoying at times. Especially when a teacher comes to the table saying something along the lines of, "My first chair violinist just dropped this... (Hands me a violin with a cracked seam and the tone peg is rolling around) Can you have it ready in fifteen minutes?"
5:17 gold.
Recently I broke the headstock of my 12 string acoustic guitar. I had a little lost of wood when I was trying to glue it for the first time. On the first time, I made a huge mistake by using superglue. It didn't work and I had to separate the headstock from the neck, and then a bit of wood at the joints was lost. I decided to use then a very hard epoxy resin and it filled the gap and holds really nice the headstock. I've learned that slow curing epoxy resin fills all the gaps and the sound transferring is excellent. I recently did some other stuff with epoxy resin and I find it very similar to hide glue
If the gap(s) are very small, you might be able to swell the wood in the joint and/or neck by dampening it with water. I inadvertently did this when wet sanding a body and ended up with the opposite problem, the formerly fitted neck was now too tight.
Convert the guitar to a 7 string
Or with how far my Teles is, an 11 string.
Hi ben is it not possable to measure the neck pocket cut a piece of wood to the same size make the neck template but make it wider where it conects to the neck pocket not forgeting to use the center line for a solid conection ?
Hello from Boston MA! I bought this offset first act guitar and planned on putting a squier strat neck on it, I don't mind filling and routing the pocket but I would like to use something like an epoxy or bondo. What should I do?
I am currently building a guitar, and while the neck heel fits well, it's sides are a little uneven (no 90 angle). Cutting it to straighten is making it worse in thic particular situation.
What if I cover the heel in duct tape, put in the pocket, and then use sawdust+glue combo? Thus I will fix the pocket to be tight around the heel, and the heel won't be glued in.
Should I try it this way? I really don't want to ruin my first baby. :)
You could also mount a Fender Strat style plate on the back to hide the lines. You can go to a trophy shop and they will engrave whatever you want on the plate not to mention that's where you can get the plate in the first place.
So just covering the sides with titebond and wood dust didn't work for me. I made it much worse after sanding it too much.
You say measurements before cutting are the way to go but how do you measure in the first place, I've measured and messed up anyhow.
Any vids on fitting a neck into pocket. And the process
th-cam.com/video/hjnmW1Q4QI0/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/uINEhdGFPSk/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/EIFj7xsQ8Qw/w-d-xo.html
th-cam.com/video/mjih5uSY9pQ/w-d-xo.html
I hope this helps. DC
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars thx.
Hey Ben
Im modifying the first guitar i ever bought and I wanted to put a new neck on it. The neck i want to put on it is a strat style neck and has a curved bottom but my guitar came with a squared off neck joint. Both are the same width, height and length (at the mid point) Would i be better off filling the gap with epoxy or gluing in a new piece of wood and re cutting it?
Thanks
can i just put some tape around neck to make tight fit ?
Very helpful, but what time did you start drinking today?
Hello ben,can you please tell me how does one become your student in crimson guitars
Drop us an email to office at crimsonguitars.com and we'll work on a time and format that suits you..
Did you mean that dust and glue is the Duct Tape of the luthiers-world?... Since that's used for everything...
What if you cut a new piece of wood Glued it fully into the neck pocket
Cut a sqaure in the body.. Splice a square of wood into the the whole (same wood or at least type of wood).. So it bonds to the body like it was part of the blank?
And then re-route the neck pocket?
I dont know of you'll see this and answer but..
How would be the best way to fill a pick-up hole fully?
Actually repaired a neck pocket with a mix of white glue and very dry Virginia tobacco, I had no dust. It works.
Wow.. I like this! B
Hi Ben, my neck pocket that I just routed out has only actually got two sides to it ... have you got any advice when bolting it on ?
What about kwikwood putty?
Hi my neck on my diy strat is 55mm where it goes in the neck packet and the neck packet is 56 mm would it fit
Kia ora Ben,
I just made my first guitar! :) Turns out as a complete novice as far as using the instrument I have made the neck/fretboard far far too wide. What is the best way to remedy this? Convert to 7 string? bandsaw 8mm off both sides? can I cut through the frets with the bandsaw? What to I do where the neck meets the body, razor saw and a chisel?
Cheers, Jake
+jacobthellamer Coulda figured you were a kiwi without the maori just from the phrasing haha.16mm too wide? Might get an 8 string out of that.
+jacobthellamer oooh, good question sir :) I'll cover this fully ( I hope) in podcast 129. for now though it is either refret and while the frets are out change the width, convert to eight string or so (drone strings will always be cool in my book!) or, carefully and slowly, cut down to size on a bandsaw loaded with a 14tpi or finer metal cutting blade.. if you go slow you could avoid damaging the frets too much, though if you push hard it may well just rip the frets through the neck :( option 3.. or 4? is to cut the fret ends down to size with a dremel at just slightly wider than you want to end up, bandsaw up to that point then file from then on.. most important, let me know how it went!! :)
Awesome! cheers :) Will keep you updated
jacobthellamer hi are you using an ankle grinder for the 8mm.just hide the dust that could come....how do you with this guitar my first guitar now has a similar problem.cheers
I'm in this exact predicament currently: When I was a bit younger (16 or so iirc) I wasn't allowed to use a router, so I attempted to do it with a set of chisels, and honestly didn't do too bad of a job, but it just was slightly too large, and I haven't touched it since. I am now 20 so I think I'll purchase myself a nice router and route a clean pocket that's about 5mm larger than the neck, place a piece of lighter wood in (using swamp ash for this build, so will most likely put some maple or something in) and that way when I route the correct size pocket for the neck and it's in it'll look like a nice contour sort of like binding. Thoughts anyone?
I like the idea to dead man and reroute. Perhaps do so with intent of a contrasting wood similar to the binding idea. Dust and glue isn’t horrible for very small voids and I use it a lot. Like as I clean up squeeze out on long miters for instance. But bolt on neck is necessarily the right application. Resaw the body reasonable too, but could have some caveats.
I am attempting to make a bass, but the body is too thin. When I create my neck pocket I believe that I will only have about 11 millimetres, or as imperial users go about 29/64ths of wood left to bolt the neck to. Should I glue wood to the back of the body, underneath the neck pocket in order to help with strength of the neck pocket? it might look a little weird, but I believe I can shape it to be comfortable. I am going to use a neck plate, and about 5 or six screws and the pocket is fairly long. Is this a bad idea? thanks to anyone who can help!!
What about using some clay in the pocket to fill empty spaces and encrease the contact?
Will it work?
Bloody good idea! Not clay though, 2 part putty. Cover the pocket and neck in cling film. Put in putty and then the neck at the right angle, wait to cure and remove clingfilm.. perfect shim with near 100.percent contact! Awesome! B
Crimson Custom Guitars Great!!!
Thank you so much!!!
Nice avdice
Thank you! The issue I've run into is a pocket too deep on a new bass body. Like an eighth of an inch too deep for a Fender spec bass neck. A big ass wood shim is so visible but this idea of wood putty and cling wrap is the best so far.
Had the same issue but it was not of my doing. Bought a licensed neck and body from two different suppliers, and they did not fit as tightly as I would like. My tech is shimming the sides of the pocket with maple and sand to fit, as you mentioned. Looking forward to more on improving kit type guitars
So picture the scene, I have a 21 fret telecaster neck rounded at the heel and I need to fit it to a standard (square) telecaster body.
What do I do? Please help
put it in place to see whether you need to add material to the neck pocket to fill the corners or cut the end of the neck off flat while the scale length is correct. you can add more wood and then use a routing template to rout to the correct cavity size and position if needed but it really depends entirely on the scale length
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars ok thank you Ben.
@@CrimsonCustomGuitars Ben, I can’t add material to the neck pocket cos the scratch plate runs along the same line as the pocket, so it looks like trimming it down but I don’t want to ruin it. I realise by sanding it I am reducing the length of the neck.
Do you sell prs kits?
Hi Ben! Recently, by accident, I routed the truss rod pochet a bit crooked in the neck I'm working on. It is centered on the body end but about 3 mm off at the headstock end. I unfortunately didnt notice until I glued the fretboard on. Is there a way to repair it? If I leave it like that, will the neck still be usable? Thanks for your help
+Jose Sanchez Disclaimer: I have no experience building necks.
From a physics point of view it shouldn't be too bad. You'd get a similar thing with asymmetrical necks which have more material on one side of the truss rod than the other. It is pulling a slight twist in it but when you stop and think about it so are the strings where the bass side has more tension than the treble. If you skewed it in the right direction you may even have a more balanced neck than usual because of that.
As for repair, I imagine that'd be remove the fretboard, fill the hole, redo.
Those with experience will know better of course but that is my reasoning on the matter from the physics side.
+Allan McKenzie Thanks Allan! That's exactly what I was thinking, actually it is more to the treble side unfortunately... I think I'll leave it like that, see what happens, and if needed go with removing the fretboard, filling and redoing. Thanks again for the suggestions. This is my first official guitar and I'm a bit discouraged that this kind of stupid mistakes happen.
+Jose Sanchez Don't be discouraged by stupid mistakes. They happen all the time (and I'm really good at them haha). Its what you do with them after that matters. Whats the worst that could happen? You mess up and learn another method that doesn't work. As it was said when inventing the lightbulb "I have succeeded in proving that those 700 ways will not work."
+Jose Sanchez I agree with Allan but will see if we can come up with more to say in podcast 131... and mistakes are what make this job nad help you learn, they are great things in the log run imo
I agree. All in all, I mounted the strings on this weekend and it seems ok. I might post a video when its finished. Thanks!
IS there a fix for a guitar neck, whose high e string(highest pitch), too close to the bottom of fretboard?
You can do several things.. refret and put a smaller bevel on the ends of the frets this widening the playing surface. Or you can adjust the nut or even (on a tunematic) saddle slots to compress the strings a bit. Or you can adjust the neck pocket and twist the neck along the centre line to.a point where the strings line up properly.. good luck! B
Use a 3d printer and print a shim!! i have done this, it works fine, DON'T use PLA for this, use ABS or simmilar hard and stable high temp plastics. it can be printed in any shape, off to a side, or even around the neck .
That would work.. I am sure, I alas have o such thing and can make a shim in a few minutes with a few hand tools and some wood.. B
I would make the fretboard slightly larger to hide the gap, aswell as the glue and dust trick
What is the thing that looks like a Batman mask behind Ben?
+theultimaterockr A Batman mask. We'll have to try and get him wearing it on camera one day.
Hi bro can i change the neck thru to neck pocket ?
+heihachi edajima I suppose technically you could, though I'm not sure why you would want to. I love neck through guitars. Just my opinion.
But you would probably have to remove the fretboard and then cut the neck off at the point where the pocket would start. And then rout out your pocket from there. You would also have to take into consideration any carving on the back of the body.
I actually just had an idea last night of doing the exact opposite in a way. I was thinking about what it would take to turn a set neck into a through or deep set neck by carving out a space in the back of a guitar for a scarf joint and then cutting a matching receiving section out of the neck and putting the two together with a joining piece that matches the cuts you make.
Hi dear I'm trying making frets protector . For recrowning for all frets one time from steel is this working dear . Thanks
Hello Sweetie. You mean a fingerboard protector. A frets protector would cover the frets. PS sounds like a plan, love.
Would it be prudent to just make some shims and stuff them in, possibly wood glue them in place? I have a cheap eBay DIY bass kit, and the neck pocket is absolutely atrocious... I managed to get the thing installed straight, but the gap on the E-string side measures .026" and G-string side is .030", according to my feelie gauges...
I also picked up a stick of both maple and meranti ("Phillippine Mahogany", which is my best guess to the actual "mahogany" species used in this "mahogany" body), which I could use for shim material, but I'm also wondering which would be the better material; the more dense, less porous maple, or the more porous, lighter weight meranti?
If you have a piece left from the same wood as the body you chould glue in a shim and start shaping the neck pocket from there.
subtitles: "You can fill it with dust and gloom"
That's my evenings after the camera turns off :) or a great band name? B
i want to come to cressing temple but i cant get any transport there :( only live like 30 miles away
glue in an exact matching piece of wood so that it is entirely filled, sand it and rout out the correct size neck pocket
So, exactly what Ben suggested @2:45?
take brown construction paper and fold it until it gets thick enough to get a nice tight fit in the pocket then soak it in a thinned wood glue. Tape off the guitar with painters tape and Press the neck into place and let it dry for a couple days. sand and finish..
good tip!! I will try this one day for sure. B
was hoping to watch Ben route a new pocket with the Batman face template behind him... maybe next time. 🤞🤞
Crimson can you make the guitar bass i won to si tq.
Hello from the US my colonial cousin. I love your videos. I have watched dozens of them including some of the builds start to finish and they've given me a lot of confidence that I can build my own...that being said...I'm fairly certain you may have ADD lol
I think lining the pocket with thin brass would be attractive and also project a sense of solidity
This was very helpful! Thank you so much!
perhaps you cold have said that "dust and glue is the panacea of the luthier's world"
Has a nick name of carpenters butter among some my peers. Maybe luthiers vegimite is fitting lolol
hello I'll have had to cut the hole pocket part and glue it again onto the rest of the body of the guitar with screws also.like the matter build from Ben he build with the metal pieces.peace
thanks for the help dude, building my first guitar and about to cut the neck pocket, I'm nervous. Btw I like the crazy tattoos on your head and the very proper way of speaking, Manchester?
Scrotumofbodom1 he's South African
Why didn't I see this before. I will ask further in the forums.
Btw, thanks for your support to the peeps at crimson guitar forums.
...It would be easier to offer a suggestion if we knew just how much of a gap he has to deal with...but I'd go with the foremost and the last suggestions...if it is small, shim it (evenly) with veneer and if it's big, bodge it and bind it...
I too love pot and guitars
Why does your shirt always have someone else's name on it??
You could convert it to a through neck guitar or a 3 piece body with a new center section.
Hello Ben
how skinny is too skinny for a neck? It's looking like I'm gonna be about 50 mill at the 12th if I'm lucky
if you make a repair using the thin power and wood glue mix, can you stain it? or will it be obvious... assuming of course the damage is on a visible part of the guitar body, not the neck pocket.
It's generally pretty obvious, stain hardly ever reacts the same over filler, though you can go back with a paint brush and fix it if you have the patience/ are a genius artist :)
Instead of the filling the whole pocket with a new block of wood i think id cut out a u shaped to fit re glue and rout to size.. saves wood and time
alifatic resin is the word, although i am three years late
Man i wish i was in Britain because i got a fun project for you.
I used wood filler and it made the neck pocket tight.......painted over it.
Glue on wood veneer
"Oi!... Look at the state of this. - Yu 'avin' a laugh?!"
This dude smokes way too much pot before he films 😂
talks too much.
Half the time its B.S.
I smoke pot before I watch. I think we are suppose to. Lol
Perhaps you meant to say Aliphatic resin, Cheers!
That's the one, I then got confused as to whether it was or not and lost my mind temporarily :(
+Crimson Custom Guitars Yeah - "temporarily..."
I would glue in one piece of wood the size of the neck pocket you have .Then re rout to the size you want .Hope that helps ..:-)