Installing a bolt-on guitar neck.
HTML-код
- Опубликовано: 24 окт 2015
- This is a simple method that I came up with years ago to help me align bolt-on guitar necks, especially on bodies that I had hand made or necks that weren't factory predrilled.All music in this video was written and performed by me.
Johnny b guitars T-SHIRTS
www.zazzle.ca/jbstuff
Follow me on FACEBOOK
/ johnnybguitars 
Хобби
I know this video is many years old, but just wanted to comment that I found it useful. Thanks, Johnny!
Very good information for anyone starting with their first guitar kit building. Thank you.
Shoutout to the EVH drill (2:16)
When I saw it I shouted JUMP!
Its the frikin FrankenDrill
This is much better than most neck drilling videos. Similar to what I had planned out on my own and way more accurate and precise than the 'hold the neck in place, mark it with the holes in the body, and set the radiused fretboard down on the flat drill press table' that most other videos show.
THANK YOU JOHN! This was the simplest, most genuinely informative video I've seen on the subject. It will help immensely, on my Tele build.
I just followed the instructions in your excellent video and installed a new neck in my Strat. I was nervous but it went perfectly, so thanks Johnny
Subscribed.
I had a body/neck from Yamaha, but BOTH had to be dowelled so as to drill afresh. I had a new neck plate, so made very shallow conical recesses using the neck plate taped in place as my guide on a small drill press with a bit the diameter of the 4 plate holes. Then the conical recesses made the centering a smaller bit for the 4 screws easy. I used a bit the diameter of the screw threads so the screws go through the body just barely passing with a screwdriver by hand and staying aligned square.
Notice that I drilled the body all the way through the pocket in a small drill press from the body rear. Then the screws can be screwed in just enough thru the pocket into the 'cup' for the 4 points to dimple the neck rear face (pocket end) and drill the 4 holes to depth carefully (a hand drill with a bulls-eye bubble keeps it level and try to drill on a level table). Attach the neck with light ChapStik on the screw threads to ease the friction. I get the forward 2 screws very snug and the rear 2 just snug... to enhance sustain.
Nicely done.
This was great. Very clear. Helped me with a neck replacement. Thank you for posting!
Excellent, concise tutorial. Thank you. Top draw Mr. B!
Thank you. I'm about to swap necks on my Squier Strat (from 40mm to 42mm). This has been very helpful.
thank you so much, you don't realize how many videos I had to dig through to get to yours of guy just blathering on and on and on about whatever. excellent video straightforward into the point it will go in my library of how to's well done
I'll try this method, it is very well explained and every step makes sense. thanks!
Yes, as has been commented already: clear and concise. It gave exactly the information I needed while in process of building a partscaster. Thank you, sir.
Nicely done! a very precise, yet simple process to ensure a neck to bridge alignment. O Canada!
Wow this is brilliant. Thank you very much for taking the time to make this video.
excellent , a simple way and very well put, Thank you.
Excellent info , clean and detailed explonation. Couldn't be better.. Thank you .! Now I fell confidant for my Tele replacement.
Fantastic tutorial thank you Johnny!
LOVE IT! Thanks John
So helpful Johnny, thank you!
Thanks John. Good advice.
I have never installed a neck but I just ordered a wicked Tele neck so here I go! Great Vid.
Super explanation, simple process... Thank you so much! That EVH drill tho. Gotta make me one of those.
I subscribed.liked and shared this video..best I've seen yet on youtube..I'm even considering a JohnnyB Guitars shirt.keeo rockin...sweet van halen painted drill also!! So rock n roll
Great tutorial - thanks!
Clear, consice, excellent!
Thank you!
I love you Johnny!
Back at you!
Thank you Johnny!
You'll also notice that in some cases that there are two different length of screws..Usually the longer ones go closest to the bridge & the shorter ones go closest to the neck BUT not always, I've seen some where all 3-4 screws were different lengths,
Pay attention to where they come out of & put them back in the same holes.. Nice video Johnny B.. Gary/Hk
Thank you for your video!
I may be a little late, but thank you very much for this quick and easy, no BS tutorial.
Exactly what I needed ! Thanks !
Thank you , very good video.
Exactly what I was hoping to find. My only problem at this point is that my guitar body has no bridge holes to go by. I'll try and figure that part out and then use this well thought out approach. Thanks!
If you don't have bridge holes or anything else that gives you the location of the bridge, drill the neck holes first. Figure out the centre of the body by going off of the pickup routes, neck pocked or even the strap holder screw hole behind the bridge. Line up the neck using this method to the centre line of the body. Once the neck is screwed in place use this method again to line the bridge up to the neck and then measure out your scale length.
@@JOHNNYBGUITARS Thanks! It makes sense but it makes MORE sense coming from an "experienced voice!"
harden the body holes drilled with a toothpick wet in yellow glue. Light glue soaks into the raw wood and makes it harder and more snug. Install the 4 screws with VERY light ChapStick wiped on the threads to make a lubricant and it will not dry out or be a mess like grease or oil.
Nice, that was really useful!
Thank you for the info
Brilliant
great video thank you ..
Also if you fit 6 bass strings to the guitar and tighten them as tight as they will go with a wrench it will help pull the neck into line.
Great instructions. I’ll be using them soon on a kit build.
Question: what’s your preferred fix for a loose neck pocket?
Do you mean a pocket that's wider than the neck? Other than getting the correct size neck, material would have to be added to the pocket then reshaped to fit.
@@JOHNNYBGUITARS yes. My pocket is too wide. What material would you suggest? Veneer? Wood putty? Epoxy?
thanks man, have you ever attempted an install without a drill press. Luckily my buddy has a shop but am thinking that may not always be the case.
You can defiantly do the same thing without a drill press, a hand drill works just as good. I prefer the drill press for straighter holes.
hello, Im building a frankenstein like guitar. I will take my Cort guitar neck and put on a new body. The neck has screw holes and the new body is blank on the bolt-on holes. Is it better to fill the holes on the neck and drew new ones on both body and neck or can I make a kind of template of the neck holes to dril them on the body?
Hi Johnny. Excellent video. What would you do in my place? I have a cheap Chinese 22 fret Tele neck with a lip, and when I fit it as snugly as I can in the neck pocket of the body, the lower end of the lip is 4 mm higher than the surface of the guitar body. I don't have a router so I can't route the neck pocket deeper.
If I am going to shave off 2.5 - 3 mm from the neck heel with hand tools, what method would you recommend? Do you think I can get the neck heel plane enough with just a rasp and sanding paper?
Definitely do not shave the neck heal. I'm assuming this is a replacement neck and not the original, how is the action?
This helps, thanks!
hey johnny what about the trust rod ?
I just got a DIY Tele kit but... there isn’t any holes drilled for the modern player bridge. Just the pickups where routed out. How do I center the bride? I don’t want to mess that up. I just can seem to fine a answer anywhere. Please help! Love the videos btw!
Telecasters have a 25.5 inch scale length, that's from headstock nut to bridge saddles. You can still used the same method that's in this video. Place the neck, pickups and bridge on the guitar body and measure out 25.5. Use the string to align all the parts, make sure pickups are centered in the route. Once everything looks to be in the right spot mark all the mounting holes with a pencil. Mount the neck and bridge first, then recheck the pickup position before drilling the holes. You can't check and recheck your measurements too much, even if you remeasure after drilling each hole. I hope this helps, let me know how it turns out.
I'm making a telecaster. The body I have has no holes where the neck goes . What do I do to make sure there right. Don
Do you think , a classic vibe 50's neck will fit the classic vibe 70s stratocaster , both are stratocaster models ? Any thoughts ?
My guitar neck and body already have screw holes but it is misaligned (the low E has barely any room on the fret board while the high e has way too much). Would you recommend widening the body holes so the screws fall through and then screwing in the neck really tight so I can make adjustments?
I'm assuming the neck and body are from two different sources? You could try widening holes but its really hard to get it accurate, the tighter the neck pocket the better. Check that the neck pocket is a snug fit, it shouldn't be sloppy and you shouldn't have to force the neck in. Use my method to see if the neck lines up, if it doesn't you might have to just the neck pocket slightly with sand paper. What I've done many times in this case is drill out the neck holes and glue in dowels, then you can drill the hole exactly were you need them. Some people wouldn't agree me but I've never had a problem doing this.
If there a no pre-drilled holes for the bridge OR the neck (on Muslady tele kit you drill every hole except tuner pegs), which do I measure and drill first to assure the neck, bridge and strings are centered? The bridge? If so, do I estimate the center line based on a neck/pocket that has enough play to pivot just a little bit? Do I install the neck first to run a line from the nut down the center, but not being 100% sure the bridge will be square with everything else? Do I temporarily clamp the neck to the body, then square the bridge and mark all of the bridge and neck holes? Help!
First thing I would do is find the centre line of the body, measure the width of neck pocket and divide by two, measure the body at the widest point and divide by two, this should be the centre line, mark the centre line on the body with a pencil. Double check those measurements with the pickup routes, place the neck on the body and check if the neck lines up to centre line of the body. Telecasters have a 25.5 inch scale length from nut to saddle, place the bridge centred on the body with the saddles at that measurement and mark the holes. Now you can drill and install the bridge, line up the neck to the bridge as I show in the video. It's hard to explain everything in a youtube comment but I hope this brief outline helps, you can't check and recheck too much, be patent and take your time. let me know if you need any more info. You can always send pictures to my Facebook messenger if that would help.
What if you are using an old neck and the holes don't line up? Can you use wood glue and some saw dust to full the holes and then re drill?
You want to bring back the integrity of the neck, drill out the old holes and plug them with dowels. The dowels shouldn't be that much bigger than the diameter of the old holes, probably about 1/8 inch. The new holes and the dowels have to be the same size to make a tight fit, (test this out on a scrap piece of wood first) then glue the dowels in with your favourite wood glue.
Hi Johnney great video thanks. Question a guy recommends on his guitar he loosens the neck screws a quarter turn while the guitar is strung and tuned then tightened the neck screws.He claims it makes better coupling and sucks the neck in the pocket.what are your thoughts?
I'm not sure what you mean.
@@JOHNNYBGUITARS for example take a strat or tele that is tuned up , loosen the neck screws a quarter turn then retighten them and retune the guitar which his claim was it really sits the neck tight into the pocket.
Well maybe, but the neck shouldn't have that much play in it, I do see your point.
@@JOHNNYBGUITARS it could be total nonsense I was just checking with you(your expert opinion) to see if it was something luthiers do. Thank you for weighing in on it.I think you confirmed what i suspected
Hi, if I need just wanna instal litle Wider screws, can I remplace one by one? Without check the Neck alignment?, My problem is than some screws of my guitar are losse, when i use the floyd the neck creak
Hmm, you're a bit vague, when you say "loose" do you mean stripped? What happens when you try to tighten the screws? It sounds like you may have issues that I don't fully understand, but I don't think bigger screws are the answer. If you were talking about a garden gate then yes pop in a bigger screw. If you want to message me some photos on my RUclips page I might be able to see what's going on.
@@JOHNNYBGUITARS ok thank you, I will send you a video, do you have an email for it?
I'm trying to put a Warmoth telecaster neck onto a Harley Benton TE-20. However the neck pocket is too tight. The neck pocket wooden tab edge (low E string) is too tight/close to the necks pre-drilled hole. I can't re-drill the neck hole, since it's only a few millimeters too close. I mean, if I could cut-off that slim piece of wood on the low E neck pocket, it would fit but that would be ugly. Can this project be saved?
Hmm... Yes and no, fitting a neck and body that aren't compatible is a tricky thing. It really starts with how comfortable you are with wood tools, if you've never done anything like this before I wouldn't recommend taking wood out of the neck pocket. Its very critical to the guitars performance that the neck heal and pocket be as accurate as possible. I think your best bet is to carefully measure the neck pocket and find or order a neck thats the same size (non predrilled if possible). If its just the holes not lining up right then thats an easier fix, the predrilled holes in the neck can be doweled and re-drilled. Let me know how it turns out.
Actually I install the neck plate and bridge at the same time using line and measure
Excellent video. I am working on a Franken-Slick SL54. Ths video helps a lot.
how can I get one of those shirts ?
Link is in the description.
what if I dont have a drill press?
A hand drill works just as well, just try to drill as straight as possible.
@@JOHNNYBGUITARS i have a 1mm gap between the neck and body on the low E side of the neck pocket do i need a shim
I'm assuming this is a body and neck from two different sources that you've put together, and not a brand named guitar that you've had for years and the gap just suddenly appeared? For tone and playability the neck pocket should be a snug fit without any gaps. Sounds like the neck is too small for the body or vice versa, a shim will do the job for sure. Most hardware stores should have 1mm veneer, or ask somebody you know that does woodworking, you'd only need a small piece. Take your time and good luck.
Duuude.. That's some bitchin hair!
An evh drill ? Lol
yep.. a $40 Black & Decker but with the cool paint job.. $999 :)