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Vintage threads from the first ten years
3 bolt strat neck loose.
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 4/29/1999 11:23 AM |
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| lou | 3 bolt strat neck loose. I have a mid 70's strat w/ the 3bolt neck that will not stay put. It keeps shimmying back and forth. Drilled out old screw holes and glued in wood dowels but it still does the shimmy? Is this the curse of the 3 bolt neck!!! Thanks Lou |
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| 4/29/1999 12:09 PM |
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| Gus | I read in a book that the holes in the body were sometimes drilled to large. If this is the case maybe you can wrap the parts of the screws that go thought the body with tape (teflon?)to shim the the body holes. FWIW I have a G&L 3 bolt guitar neck is tight. If the 3 bolt is done correctly I think it is as good as a 4 bolt setup. Gus |
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| 4/29/1999 12:41 PM |
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Doc |
By the late '70s, CBS-Fender had just about ran their milling machinery into the ground. Due to excessive wear on critical shaft bearings & bushings, the cutter heads would "wander", and in the case of neck mounting pockets, cut the pocket too wide. The problem with your guitar is the neck pocket cutout is much wider than the heel of the neck. Body holes are always "clearance " holes, and larger than the screws that go through them. So the neck can rock side-to-side in an arc, messing with the string-to-fingerboard edge clearance, and of course your tuning. Earlier guitars, and current models, have tight neck pockets. First of all, if your string/fingerboard/saddle height geometry is OK without using the neck tilt feature, that helps. Set the neck where you want it for proper string alignment, then tighten the screws. Look carefully at the neck/body joint. There is most likely a measurable gap, possibly 1/32" to 1/16". You need to fabricate a shim to fit in the gap which will prevent any side play, or rocking. There may be enough clearance on each side of the heel for spacers. Cut a suitable material to shape and fit where necessary. Another idea that works for holding a neck heel in place is to cut a shim, about the size & pattern of the neck heel surface (including punching any bolt holes) out of that abrasive coated plastic screen material used for sanding drywall seams. Thicness is about .030" If you decide to convert the bolting pattern to a standard 4-bolt, using a new rectangular chrome plate, please sell me the 3-bolt plate. I'm trying to undo a similar conversion, and don't have a 3-bolt neck plate. Not that it wasn't performed satisfactorily (it was a neat job). I just want to make it the way it should be. |
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| 4/29/1999 12:48 PM |
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| lou | Thanks for all the info. I'll work on this tonite and let ya know the results.(I'm keeping it a 3 bolt set up, sorry Doc) Cheers Lou |
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