Neck bolt holes not square - panic?

I've belatedly noticed that the holes drilled in the body for the neck are off-centre or drilled at an angle - probably the latter. They look okay on the back, but on the front they're noticeably closer to the top of the neck pocket.

Any suggestions on how to fix this?

My main concern is the pilot holes/screws might punch through or split the neck. :?
I don't have a drill press, so straightening the holes is risky - but I really don't want to stuff up the neck. (Plugs with dowels and drill again?)

Cheers!

Show us a photo mate.

Yhep, plug and re drill.
It wont matter if you drill these holes slightly over size as the neck plate does all the work on the body side.

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It wont matter if you drill these holes slightly over size as the neck plate does all the work on the body side.

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Define "slightly". ;-)

The holes on the bottom of the body are fine, but the holes on top need to move down a couple of mm.
File (v-shaped hole), or plug and drill?

Not the best photos. The back has even hole spacing; the front has the holes shifted towards the top (long edge of the pocket.)
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...91g9n-back.jpg
http://www.buildyourownguitar.com.au...04yv-front.jpg

Ok. Are the holes square to the body or are they sloping outwards?

If they are square it is no drama as long as you have at least 15mm clearance from the outside edge of the neck heel pocket.

Ozbird, the holes on the top side look a little too close to the treble side of the pocket. I'd be a bit worried about splitting the neck heel, especially if the screw is angled toward the edge which is what it looks like.
You may get away with straightening up the hole with a 3.5 or 4mm drill to get the top side further from the pocket edge. To be on the safe side of avoiding any neck movement with a sloppy hole would be to plug the holes and redrill. Do you know anyone with a drill press ?

where are you located mate? there might be someone near you who can help

Thanks for the feedback, guys.

/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from dingobass on October 29, 2014, 08:04

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Ok. Are the holes square to the body or are they sloping outwards?

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All the holes are sloping upwards - so two are sloping outwards, and two inwards.

Using the metal neck plate as a template (no gasket), the holes on the back are fine - there's an even gap between the plate and the cut edges on the wood. In the neck pocket, the holes are shifted up 2mm. With the plate pressed against the top (long edge) of the pocket, the top edges of the holes are just under the metal, while there's about 2mm of wood visible at the bottom.

With a 4mm drill bit in the hole, the gap at the top of the pocket is 3-4.5mm depending on which way you lean the drill bit. A 4.5mm drill bit didn't fit through the hole, but the gap was 3.5mm with it pushed in snugly (but possibly not squarely.)

On the bright side, the holes are fine front-back.

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If they are square it is no drama as long as you have at least 15mm clearance from the outside edge of the neck heel pocket.

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The rear holes are the typical 5/8" (15-16mm) from the bridge end of the pocket (centre of holes to centreline.) Is that what you mean?

Ozbird, DB means from the centre of the screw will there be at least 15mm to each edge of the neck heel ?
Any less than that and you risk splitting the wood of the heel. Sounds like you just scrape in with 15-16mm to the rear of the heel.
From your above body photo I'm worried about the distance between the treble side of the heel and the holes look no more than 10mm

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/<\\/p>[]<\\/p>/Quote from wokkaboy on October 29, 2014, 19:21
Ozbird, DB means from the centre of the screw will there be at least 15mm to each edge of the neck heel ?
Any less than that and you risk splitting the wood of the heel. Sounds like you just scrape in with 15-16mm to the rear of the heel.
From your above body photo I'm worried about the distance between the treble side of the heel and the holes look no more than 10mm

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I'm confused. The neck pocket is 55-56mm wide, and the screws are 1.5 inches apart (38mm.) That means the centre of the holes should be (56-38)/2 = 9mm from the edge, so about 7mm of wood?

Here's the plate gasket sitting on the butt(?) of the neck (the chrome plate didn't play nicely with the flash.) The gasket is pretty much the same width of the neck, and the edge of the holes to the edge of the gasket is about 5.5mm.
http://www.pitbullguitars.com/wp-con...411x0-Neck.jpg

the holes on my kit were a bit wonky too, it all worked out fine once i bolted it up, but i know a lot of people plug and redrill them. i asked about whether the factory could be asked to align them better but i seem to remember there was a reason for them being the way they are.
i reckon they could just not drill them at all, would make it easier than having to plug them and redrill. if your finshing up a whole guitar, drilling 4 extra holes isnt really a huge deal