Should I sand the neck pocket or neck heel?

[Spectre Gunner]

I'm installing a standard neck on a precision body. They are both very good pieces and have little use. The problem I'm having is that the neck won't seat fully into the neck pocket. There is gap wide enough to easily fit a credit card at the truss rod. It seats fully at the base of the pocket. I've applied only enough force to try and seat it but of course, I don't want to go any further and risk damaging something.

The obvious solution is to either widen the pocket or narrow the neck heel. The neck fit was fine on the body it came off of. Either would work but I don't want to create the opposite problem (loose fit) if I decide to swap another neck or body.

 

[Gilmourisgod]

Curious to hear what a Pro would suggest, but in your shoes I think I'd widen the pocket, assuming it a Poly neck finish. Obviously sanding the neck would be easier, but that means you are sanding through whatever finish is on the neck, which means you have to refinish it, at least partly, which is not easy to do if it's poly. If it's Nitro, not so bad, the new finish will "burn" into the old. If it's oil finish, you just add more oil. Neck pockets are usually crudely finished at best, so sanding away at the side edges of the pocket should be relatively safe not to trash the body finish. If I understand your post, the neck will seat down into the pocket vertically, but you can't push it all the way in towards the bridge? the radius of the neck corners probably doesn't match the neck pocket corner radii. If the gap is that tiny, won't the pickguard cover it, in which case, who cares? the necks screws might not line up, but you'd have to plug them and re-drill to get into something solid, or the screws would just drag the neck into the existing hole alignment.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

Good point. It didn't occur to me about having to deal with the finish on the neck heel.

It doesn't seat at the bridge. Vertically it's fine. It only gets tight at the last 1/8" so it must be that the two curves on the neck pocket are slightly different than the neck heel. I think a light touch with a sanding drum on a Dremel tool will do the trick. I'll give that area a light touch. Thx.

 

[Beej]

What are the brands of the parts? If one is a Fender (or Squier), i'd probably work on the other one to fit. Pics of the neck pocket may help too. Sometimes there's a blob of finish right on the corner of the pocket that can be safely sanded back flush in order to help the fit

 

[C Stone]

Have you checked the neck screw alignment? I'd do that first then go from there, if they line up personally I'd just let the tiny gap ride as is...

 

[Spectre Gunner]

What are the brands of the parts? If one is a Fender (or Squier), i'd probably work on the other one to fit. Pics of the neck pocket may help too. Sometimes there's a blob of finish right on the corner of the pocket that can be safely sanded back flush in order to help the fit

The neck is a USA Fender P and the body is Warmouth which are a licensed Fender product. I'd like to assume that Warmouth builds to Fender specs but maybe not so precise.

Have you checked the neck screw alignment? I'd do that first then go from there, if they line up personally I'd just let the tiny gap ride as is...

The neck doesn't go in quite far enough for the screw holes to line up. It looks like they would if the neck would go in all the way. I checked by dropping an awl down the holes and they are off about as much as the gap width. I'm confident the holes will align once the neck is fully seated. When I had the neck in the pocket it looked like the pocket curves were slightly tighter than the neck heel curves. I should've taken pics when I had the chance.

 

[Beej]

What I might do (with the caveat that I haven't seen it), would be to gently file the rounded edges of the heel of the neck to make them a little softer. The key is I would only file this on the part of the neck heel that is hidden by the neck pocket/body. That way if the neck was used on another bass in the future, the slight modification would not be visible.

 

[C Stone]

The key is I would only file this on the part of the neck heel that is hidden by the neck pocket/body. That way if the neck was used on another bass in the future, the slight modification would not be visible.

Sound advice, that is what I was going to suggest, just take enough off the the neck corners to contour lower part of the neck in the heel. You could make a paper template of the body pocket contour and/or use carbon paper. Good luck.

 

[iiipopes]

Hmmm. "Fender spec." Meaning the 2 1/2 inch heel width? Straight or tapered up the tongue into the neck? How long for the tongue before blending into the contour of the back of the neck? How accurate is the curve?

It might take a little bit of sanding on both. My view is that since the neck is the "real" Fender part, I would be more inclined to sand on the pocket rather than risk a neck that might be too narrow for other "real" Fender bodies.

 

[dwizum]

I'm right in line with @Beej on his advice in this thread. I would emphasize examining the pocket and neck really carefully to make sure there are no obvious defects or blobs of finish or other factors blocking the fit. Beyond that, I would probably break out the ruler and measure both parts to determine which was furthest from "official spec" and then work on that one.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

Apparently, one of these is out of spec. I'm inclined to think it would be the Warmouth body but rather than go off that assumption I should take measurements and then determine which one needs to be cleaned up. I have the tools to take accurate measurements, I just need to find the specs. I could easily enough make these two parts fit together well but I prefer to take the challenge to ensure there are both factory correct. At least that way I may actually learn something to get better at this luthier want-to-be thing.

It's going to be a few days before I can get back to this project. Once, I do I'll post some pics and an update. Appreciate the help.

 

[fhm555]

Have you checked the neck screw alignment? I'd do that first then go from there, if they line up personally I'd just let the tiny gap ride as is...

^this^

 

[micguy]

The neck is a USA Fender P and the body is Warmouth which are a licensed Fender product. I'd like to assume that Warmouth builds to Fender specs but maybe not so precise.

In my experience (I have a LOT of experience with Warmoth parts)
Warmoth makes parts that are E XTREMELY consistent and precise They literally make “Fender” parts better than Fender does. That’s why they have the reputation they do - they’re an upgrade from Fender parts, not just a replacement.

If a Fender neck doesn’t fit a Warmoth body, I’d absolutely modify the neck.

 

[Spectre Gunner]

No dis intended on Warmouth. This Warmouth body is a fine piece but one of these parts is off.

Another potential offender could simply be that the pickguard needs some trimming. I just got the idea to try it without the pickguard on. I'm going to measure twice and hope to cut just once. I'll follow up in a few days in case anyone is interested.

 

[N4860]

No dis intended on Warmouth. This Warmouth body is a fine piece but one of these parts is off.

Another potential offender could simply be that the pickguard needs some trimming. I just got the idea to try it without the pickguard on. I'm going to measure twice and hope to cut just once. I'll follow up in a few days in case anyone is interested.

I feel like that should have been tried a long time ago. The pickguard is the last thing that should be put on.

 

[C Stone]

I just got the idea to try it without the pickguard on.

You should have been able to see a 'lip' or 'overhang' of the pickguard fairly easily with the neck off. Could it be that simple?
It could and would be a bonus...

 

[Spectre Gunner]

I feel like that should have been tried a long time ago. The pickguard is the last thing that should be put on.

I did check for that but it seemed to be ok by just feeling it but that’s not accurate enough. I’m learning how close the tolerances need to be in this area.

So yeah looking back on it, it may have been a duh moment. If I was building from scratch then of course I’d put the PG on last. This was just a neck swap so the PG was already on the body. When I can get back to it I’ll take the PG off and try the neck again. That will tell me if the PG is the problem.

The fretless neck that came off this body was a Fender Custom Shop Tony Franklin prototype neck from 2005 and the body was made by Warmouth around 2011. That’s an interesting story for a later thread.

I doubt Fender used CNC then in the Custom Shop and I have no idea if Warmouth did either. Regardless, I’d rather have a bass or parts handmade by skilled craftsmen even if it means some massaging is needed when swapping parts.

I’m just a player but I’m gaining more respect for pro luthiers.

 

[DC in ATX]

FWIW. Maple is a hard wood. The neck pocket might be the path of least resistance, so to speak.

 

[40Hz]

In my experience (I have a LOT of experience with Warmoth parts)
Warmoth makes parts that are E XTREMELY consistent and precise They literally make “Fender” parts better than Fender does.

Have to agree. The Warmouth parts I’ve worked with are extremely consistent from piece to piece. I’ve found far more variation in Fender parts, especially MIM parts, than I’ve ever seen in Warmouth’s millwork. I recently helped out a friend on a Franken-build project. He wanted to try two different MIA Fender Strat necks (one maple and one rosewood) on a MIA Fender Strat body. The maple neck fit perfectly. The rosewood needed a lot of sanding by the heel.

So that meant one of two possibilities. Either (a) the rosewood neck was out of spec; or (b) both the maple neck and the neck pocket were out of spec and the rosewood neck was correctly milled.

Either way, something was off with Fender.

 

[jonnymac]

I have the same exact issue. I'm using a Fender American Pro P bass neck and a Warmoth P bass body. The corners of the neck bottom out before it touches by the truss rod. I can install the neck but there's a slight gap along the bottom edge. I think if I sanded those corners a bit I might be able to get rid of the gap. I thought of taking it to a luthier but I also think I might be able to just do it myself. Did you end up taking any material away from the bass body?