How to seat a neck properly

grobe · #1 05-13-2011, 04:21 PM

Is there a correct way of doing this? I'm pretty certain I screwed this up.

John Wentzien · #2 05-13-2011, 04:23 PM

Whatcha got and what did you did?

grobe · #3 05-13-2011, 05:48 PM

MIM 60's Jazz Bass with stock neck. I didn't seat the neck properly apparently. It's a little too high at the very end of the neck where it meets the body, so my string height is all screwed up. In other words the neck seems to be tilted a little.

darkstorm · #4 05-13-2011, 08:08 PM

Have you tried taking neck back off and putting it back on? Sounds like you accidently didnt get rear portion of neck seated all the way down in the neck pocket. Shims will cause what your describing which is corrected for by readjusting the bridge for the slightly higher end of neck that now tilts slightly to the rear. But since you dont mention installing shim, sounds like the neck just wasnt fully seated in the neck pocket. Resulting in it being slightly raised at the rear. You might be able to fix this by loosening all the neck bolt screws without completely taking neck back off,and then retightning the neck bolt screws keeping neck pressed into pocket. One other thing that sometimes happens by accident is on some the rear screws are little bit shorter then the two front ones (further away from bridge ones). If you accidently got the screws backward that could explain why they tightened down but neck still not all the way down. Cause the screws are too long and belong in the front holes rather then in the rear (closer to bridge) holes. Ive occassionally also seen the longer screws belonging in the back and shorter ones in front. So prob best to remove the screws all the way and make sure they are same length. If not, determine where the longer ones go before reattaching neck.

96tbird · #5 05-14-2011, 12:11 AM

Do the screws pass freely through the holes in the body on those mim or are they threaded through? As in self threading wood screws, or are they machine screws that thread into steel inserts in the neck?

walterw · #6 05-14-2011, 01:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 96tbird

Do the screws pass freely through the holes in the body on those mim or are they threaded through?

this is key!

those screws should slip through the body, and only thread into the neck.

otherwise, they'll never clamp the neck into the pocket like they should, no matter how tight you crank them.

96tbird · #7 05-14-2011, 07:47 AM

exactly.

john grey · #8 05-14-2011, 09:15 AM

No NOT use an electric screwdriver to seat a neck. It's common with urethane finishes to crack and occasionally to have pockets crack from too much torque on those screws. If you wind up with cracks at the neck pocket; you have problems even if it doesn't go into the wood per se'. It will LOOK like the neck pocket is cracking, etc.

You want to feel the thread properly engage and a hand screwdriver can get that done efficiently. If you DID have a a shim in there and it fell out, that's a possibility for the problem but more likely..... you didn't match up the screws.

96tbird · #9 05-14-2011, 10:55 AM

Hmmm no one suggested an electric screwdriver

loinmute · #10 05-14-2011, 11:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john grey

No NOT use an electric screwdriver to seat a neck. It's common with urethane finishes to crack and occasionally to have pockets crack from too much torque on those screws. If you wind up with cracks at the neck pocket; you have problems even if it doesn't go into the wood per se'. It will LOOK like the neck pocket is cracking, etc.

You want to feel the thread properly engage and a hand screwdriver can get that done efficiently. If you DID have a a shim in there and it fell out, that's a possibility for the problem but more likely..... you didn't match up the screws.

+1 I know this from experience

grobe · #11 05-15-2011, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walterw

this is key!

those screws should slip through the body, and only thread into the neck.

otherwise, they'll never clamp the neck into the pocket like they should, no matter how tight you crank them.

Yup, this is it. The screws do not pass freely. Is there a way to ream the holes? How did they set the neck at the factory I wonder.

michael_atw · #12 05-15-2011, 09:02 PM

If someone needs an electric screwdriver to screw on a neck, they are a real wuss.

96tbird · #13 05-15-2011, 09:57 PM

The factory clamps the neck in place, drill pilot holes and shoot the screws.

Now, you have.to open yours up. Just drill them out with a bit large enough that the screws will pass through. I use an electric hand drill and just go slow from the back of the body of course with the neck not attached. You will now be able to torque it right down, and align it to perfection.

walterw · #14 05-15-2011, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grobe

Yup, this is it. The screws do not pass freely. Is there a way to ream the holes? How did they set the neck at the factory I wonder.

check to make sure by taking the neck off, then re-attaching the neckplate and screws; tighten the screws to see if they do indeed "stop" in the body, or if they maybe keep spinning, just not loosely. if they still turn at all, the body's OK.

if they actually tighten up in the body, then yes, take a drill bit the exact size of the screw and drill out the holes in the body.

start with the outside (painted) side to prevent tear-out of the finish from the drill coming up from under the paint.

blipndub · #15 05-16-2011, 09:42 AM

I don't know if this is legit but this is what I'll sometimes do with a neck that's hard to seat.
I use a hand clamp kind of like this:

Not anything too aggressive just something to hold the neck in place. I'll place one side against the neck plat and them place another neck plate on the fingerboard to rest the other arm of clamp against and then tighten it up, put in screws.

This is probably not recommended for any number of reasons, but it's worked for me in these situations.

Also +1 on not using an electric screwdriver, tempting but not necessary if everything is lined up correctly.

walterw · #16 05-16-2011, 11:42 PM

those little clamps are no match for the clamping action of the screws themselves, if the screws slip through the body like they're supposed to. if they don't, no amount of outside "pre-clamping" will create a rigid fit.

the real trick, once we're sure the screws are sorted out, is to tune up the instrument to pitch, then loosen all 4 screws about 1/4 turn, or one "twist of the wrist".

this allows the strings to pull the neck down hard against the end of the pocket, eliminating any gaps at the butt-end of the neck.

push or pull the neck so that the outside strings line up with the edges, then re-tighten all the screws.

once done, you might notice a little more sustain and evenness out of it, as the body and neck are more tightly together.

96tbird · #17 05-17-2011, 07:06 AM

^ YES. YES and Yes. This is the way

bongomania · #18 05-17-2011, 08:41 AM

Glad I read this thread!

SlingBass4 · #19 05-17-2011, 08:55 AM

I tried to straighten the neck of an old Gibson EBO by a couple mentioned methods posted above. Popped the neck right off that puppy, and was a son of a gun to get back on properly

96tbird · #20 05-17-2011, 09:19 AM

The screws pulled out of the neck? You had to have loosened the screws too far and/or the wood was chewed up already. Just take the tension off 1/8th turn maybe a bit more.and it works good. Alternatively you loosen the strings and reset neck, tighten it all back up and see how it is. I prefer this method, a bit tedious if you keep over shooting, but safer. If you remove the screws from a neck, make sure you hand thread them back in so they follow the thread cuts already there. if you don't you are cutting new threads in the wood and weakening the holes. If you remove the screws and neck you can "wick" a couple drops of super glue (CA) into the neck holes and harden the wood, a good thing to do if you are going to take the neck off a lot, as some do.