STA1-MHT - First Build!

[hamjam]

Hey y'all,

First post and first guitar build so you might heard from me quite regularly while I figure out what I'm doing haha

Attached is photos of my kit, everything checks out except I received the wrong neck to what I ordered. But no issue! The legends at Pitbull sent me the correct one in a matter of no time!! (not pictured)
Even better, they let me keep the original one they sent too! Cannot stress how much I appreciate this!

So now I have a blackwood hard top and a maple neck to go with my strat.

Now, i'm trying to do a mock build, but the neck cradle on the body won't fit the neck heel. I know I have to sand the cradle on the body to alow the neck to gently slot in, but which side of the cradle? The edge that is shortest seems best but I thought I would clarify before I start. Also any other tips on this process are welcome

Cheers,

Connor Askham

[jugglindan]

Welcome!

I agree that the PBG service is top-notch.

Good luck with your build. The blackwood board looks much better than my one was, which required treating with CA to stabilise it. I won't offer any advice on the neck pocket. Much more experienced people around here will set you on the right track with that.

[Simon Barden]

That doesn't look like Engineered Blackwood at all. Looks like you have a proper wood board (unless it's a different type of engineered board to the usual one, but I'd say it probably is real wood.

But that neck is far too wide for the body. If you were going to sand the edges of the neck pocket down, you'd be looking at fractions of a mm. But that looks at least 1.0mm too wide, maybe 1.5mm. That's a lot to have to sand back, and sand it back evenly.

Ideally you'd sand back both sides so the centreline of the neck remains in the same position

If you sand back the short treble side of the pocket, then the neck will stick over the forward edge of the pocket by that extra amount. It won't look good and it won't feel good in the hand when playing.

So the better solution is to sand back the bass edge of the pocket. But that's quite a long edge, and it won't be easy to do it evenly and keep it perpendicular to the base. It will also shift the centre line of the neck to the bass side by that amount, which while that's not a problem for the bridge (as it's a hardtail and you can position the bridge to suit the neck), it may well be an issue for the pickup arrangement, with the strings not sitting over the centre of the pole pieces if the scratchplate can't shift with the neck due to controls or pickups hitting the side of the cavities.

With a wider pocket that will now be offset, you'll probably have to reshape the curved end of the pocket to avoid any gap. It's a 21 fret neck, so no overhang to hide any gap. You'll want a good fit.

If the original neck fits in the pocket nicely, then it may be the neck is to a US spec, rather than the normal slightly narrower Asian spec. This means that the strings may not run parallel to the edge of the board with the supplied bridge, but move inwards as they run down the neck. Unfortunately, as the neck is too wide, you can't do a test build to see if this is the case.

Does the cut-out in the scratchplate fit the end of the neck, or is it too narrow? If it's too narrow, then you'll have to enlarge that as well.

So you've got a combination of things to consider here.

Rather than me guessing, I'd first measure the neck width at its the widest part, and the pocket width at the same relative position. Then we'll know just what we have to deal with.

[JimC]

The pocket is probably tapered, so the neck slides in from above rather then from the end. But Simon's right. Measure both necks and the body with a caliper and lets see exactly what the numbers are. And yes, looks like real wood to me too.

[hamjam]

Thanks for the replies! I'm glad I checked in! Already learning so much.

Ahh right I totally understand. Definitely a few things to consider and think about, I was a bit concerned about this stage and my concern has definitely been affirmed. Best to tread lightly.

Yeah you might be right simon, was a bit unsure what it was, so maybe lets call it wood top for now? haha. The necks are actually slightly different too, the maple is a little longer as it has 22 frets and the fret board hangs over the end (would that need to be trimmed?).

Here is what I discovered with the measurements at their widest points and upon inspecting more.

maple neck: 56mm
wood top: 56.5mm (just shy of 57mm)
pocket at same position: 56mm (closer to 55.5mm)

So it actually seems like I could almost slot the maple neck in, where as the wood top sits slightly to wide. @jimc I think you're right, it might slide in from the top rather than the end.

However the scratch plate sits alright in the wood top, but needs some cutting for the maple.

So my initial idea was to maybe set them up so I could swap the necks out but I think that might not be possible and I should choose which neck to go with now.

It seems best to go with the maple

[Simon Barden]

OK, so maybe not as different as it appeared in the photos, but still enough to make it awkward.

No, you won't need to trim the end off the 22 fret neck; the overhang is normal on those. Though the ends are normally rounded over a bit, rather than left perfectly straight edged as yours is at the moment. You could trim it back a bit if you wanted to, but you'd be best to leave at lest 5mm of wood on the body side of the 22nd fret to give the fret and its slot some support.

Whilst the neck pocket should in theory be slightly wedge shaped to match the neck shape, because the treble side of the pocket is mainly open, I've never needed to slot a neck in from the top (though I dare say that you might need to on the odd guitar if it's a very tight fit.

Don't forget that the neck will also be a bit wider by the time you've put some finish on it. Whilst it's normal not to finish the inside of the pocket, finishing the neck is normal. So you don't want a very tight fit for the neck before you add any finish, or you simply won't get it in there when you do. How much extra width will depend on just what finish you use and how much of it you apply. But it could be anywhere from 0.1mm to almost 1mm in total.

Whilst you don't want big gaps round the sides of the neck, the main areas of concern are the heel bottom to pocket bottom contact and the neck end to pocket end contact. The neck screws will hold the neck in place regardless, but you do get a bit more sustain if the neck also sits snugly against the end of the pocket.

[Petebullgtr]

HI HJ
The heel of both of those necks appear to be strat style (ie. rounded heels). As Simon mentioned the overhang on the 22 fret neck needs to be shaped as per the "rosewood" fretboard. The pickguard tucks under the overhang when installed. Not sure that this helps with your decision as to which neck to use though.

[king casey]

If it was me...I'd be sanding the oversized heel to the one that fits.
FWIW This is the same kit that started my Pitbull builds.

https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...ng%27s+pitbull


cheers, Mark.

[Simon Barden]

If it was me...I'd be sanding the oversized heel to the one that fits.

But the heel's attached to the fretboard, so you'd have to reshape the whole neck and redo all the fret ends. That's a lot of work and easy to go wrong whilst doing it. It can be done, but it wouldn't be my first choice.

Actually, my first choice would be to have a neck that fits the neck pocket.

[king casey]

KC's alternative cat-skinning methodology.

cheers, Mark.