Bolt on neck tip

[Jondog]

Learned a little trick to improve the sustain on a guitar with a bolt on neck. With the guitar tuned to pitch, loosen each screw holding the neck on a 1/4 turn, you might hear a pop. That's the neck being pulled into the pocket resulting in better wood contact between the neck and body. I did this on my strat the other day and heard the pop as soon as I loosened the last screw. It has an aftermarket neck I put on a couple years ago and I thought I had it installed tightly. I feel like it has improved the guitars sustain.

Edit: After posting, reviewing my post it looked like I typed LEAMED instead of LEARNED. Went back to edit, but no, I originally typed LEARNED. the small case "r" and "n" together look like an "m" on my screen, anyone else seeing this?

[a.hun]

What???

Trying to follow your logic here. How can loosening the bolts increase wood to wood contact? And string tension is going to pull the neck out of the pocket, not into it...

Sounds like a very bad idea to me. What may be happening is that the neck angle has changed slightly. If you feel that has improved things than fine, shim the neck with a little sliver of card or even sandpaper. That can indeed improve things - many vintage Fenders came shimmed from new. But then tighten the bolts properly. With that much string tension on the neck not having them tight is asking for trouble IMO...

Don't get it at all.


Andy.

[Jondog]

Quarter turn, not even half a thread pitch on the screws. We're talking thousandths of an inch that the neck is pulled into the body. Worked for me. No change in string action that I can tell.

[a.hun]

Quarter turn on those big thread bolts is WAY more than thousands of an inch. Sure it'll not move much because you are just releasing a bit of compression at the start. But I'm not sure that is really a good thing.

IMO you almost can't overtighten the neck bolts, tight = good. But it seems not everyone agrees. I'm very much with my mate John P on this one though:
https://www.thegearpage.net/board/index ... te.305516/
He put several good posts on that thread.

If you are happier with your guitar now though I'll promise not to worry about it too much!


Andy.

[PBA]

Releasing the tension in the screws so as to allow the neck to move could create a better contact between the end of the neck and the pocket but it does so at the expense of the contact between the back of the neck and the pocket. If you were to re-tighten the screws, then maybe only some of that end contact would be lessened. it would be dependent on the precise shape of the neck heal and pocket.
I would be a little worried if the screw tension was released sufficiently to allow any further neck movement. Perhaps re-tighten and see if the sound changes?

[Jondog]

It works. Do it.
now.

[caldurham]

this is actually an old luthiers trick. when i first heard about it i was doubtful as well. but if you do some digging you'll find that more often than not they even do this at the factories when they are building and setting up the guitars. loosening up the screws on your neck under tension isn't anything to worry about. it fact i do it sometimes on a guitar to make sure the strings sit on the neck evenly. sometimes i may have to tilt the neck up or down a little then retighten the screws.

[Les Paul Lover]

It works. Do it.
now.

Alright Mr Bossy!!!

You're lucky I'm easily impressionable and ready to follow the advice of complete strangers.

[Les Paul Lover]

this is actually an old luthiers trick. when i first heard about it i was doubtful as well. but if you do some digging you'll find that more often than not they even do this at the factories when they are building and setting up the guitars. loosening up the screws on your neck under tension isn't anything to worry about. it fact i do it sometimes on a guitar to make sure the strings sit on the neck evenly. sometimes i may have to tilt the neck up or down a little then retighten the screws.

Yes, I've tried it before - though as I read it then, it was loosen just a touch and then retighten it all.

I've tried it with my Vigier, though there was no improvement there. I wasn't particularly surprised as the neck pocket is a pretty tight fit on this one.

[caldurham]

Yes, I've tried it before - though as I read it then, it was loosen just a touch and then retighten it all.

I've tried it with my Vigier, though there was no improvement there. I wasn't particularly surprised as the neck pocket is a pretty tight fit on this one.

yeah you would have to retighten the screws. also you may have to readjust intonation. though that would depend on how much the neck moved in the pocket. and the better the fit of the neck pocket the less this little trick will have any affect.

overall though for those that doubt it just google search for it. and if you can't do a basic set up on a guitar (ie adjust action, mess with the truss rod and intonation) then i would suggest you probably shouldn't do it as intonation and action may change slightly.

[Hubaxe]

On my bolt neck guitars I switch the wood screws with threat inserts and machine screws. And believe me or not, there is a difference.

[onetracker]

On my bolt neck guitars I switch the wood screws with threat inserts and machine screws. And believe me or not, there is a difference.

interesting. I might have to look into that. too bad too cuz I just put my strat back together.

[Hubaxe]

on *bay there are lots of kits for that, type "Guitar Neck Threaded STEEL INSERTS" or similar.
Be careful to install the insert straight in the neck holes. In my opinion this thing makes so much sense that it should be offered standard by guitar makers.

[onetracker]

on *bay there are lots of kits for that, type "Guitar Neck Threaded STEEL INSERTS" or similar.
Be careful to install the insert straight in the neck holes. In my opinion this thing makes so much sense that it should be offered standard by guitar makers.

sure enough. I'm going to experiment with these on my project strat. I always cringe when driving wood screws into a neck pocket. seems so...uncivilized, with a chance for me to strip or crack something. granted there are fixes for just about anything but I love the idea of inserts.

thanks!

OT

[bclaire]

on *bay there are lots of kits for that, type "Guitar Neck Threaded STEEL INSERTS" or similar.
Be careful to install the insert straight in the neck holes. In my opinion this thing makes so much sense that it should be offered standard by guitar makers.

sure enough. I'm going to experiment with these on my project strat. I always cringe when driving wood screws into a neck pocket. seems so...uncivilized, with a chance for me to strip or crack something. granted there are fixes for just about anything but I love the idea of inserts.

thanks!

OT

Keep in mind that Leo never planned on his necks getting refrets - he wanted to simply bolt on a new neck. Basically, he thought that once a neck was installed it would never need to be removed unless it needed a refret....