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I am currently rebuilding a neck on a previous build. I had a brain fart when building this one and made the fingerboard 1/4" and the neck 3/4" instead of the standard 3/8" FB and 5/8" neck on a telecaster. I managed to lower the saddles enough that the action is fine, but I just find the strings too low to the top and the P/Us.
Instead of a new fingerboard I decided to start a whole new neck because I am not entirely pleased with the carve on the original. Anyway, my dilemma here is I cannot decide wether it would be better just to make the new neck with a full 3/8" FB or to stick with a 1/4" FB and have an overhang on the neck where the extra frets over the body are. It would probably be easier just to make the 3/8" FB but I am afraid it would require the truss rod to be too shallow out of the back of the neck with a decently slim carve, and maybe look funny too with such a thick FB.

What do you guys suppose the best plan of attack is?
Thanks

I don't understand. First Fender neck styles all use 1/4" fingerboards and 3/4" (or a hair over) neck blanks. Total thickness is about 1.06" or so. 3/8" board would be way to thick and I doubt your truss rod would respond correctly.

In your description, they both equal 1". So the string height would not change regardless of which one you build. Sounds like the first neck was ok. You should have just shimmed the neck pocket if you wanted to raise the neck up a bit. The pocket should be 5/8" deep which leaves 1/8 of the neck blanks and the full 1/4" fingerboard above the face. 3/8" total above the body. Occasionally you have to add a shim about the thickness of a matchbook cover under the very tip of the neck pocket. This cause the neck to tilt back slightly. Thus raising the neck. You will then have to raise your bridge saddles higher to accomidate for the angle. That should resolve your pickup issues too.

Cheers!
Joe

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Joe

Yes, I am looking for 3/8" height above the body, regardless of how I get there. Though I do not want to shim the neck pocket.

I feel like remaking the neck anyway, that overall I can end up with a better result this time around.
IDK... it just does not feel right so low. I am starting to think although I have a full 3/8" FB ready to go that the shim or extension or whatever it is called that is part of the neck would be the best solution. The whole thing will be "normal" just with a bigger slope down from the carve to where the neck flattens out around the heel.

If I understand your problem correctly, this can be common with bolt on necks, especially with factory guitars. The usual solution is to add a shim of some type (I prefer something hard, like wood or a scrap of an old credit card) to the neck pocket at the heel of the neck. This will give you a slight back angle to the neck, which will allow you to raise the saddles and still maintain proper action. I know you're gonna get people who'll scream bloody murder at the mention of a shim, but it's pretty common practice, and has been recommended by Fender, among other manufacturers.
http://www.fender.com/support/stratocaster_setup_guide.php
Scroll down to "shimming/micro-tilt adjustment".
But if you just want an excuse to build a new neck, far be it from me to discourage you. Build on.
edit: Didn't read the whole thread. JRE productions already covered it.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Sounds to me like your neck pocket is too deep?
I would make a flat, nicely fit piece in there,
until it's the right heighth.
Maybe glue it onto the neck or the body.
pic?

The laminations in the body prohibit a shim, at least a well hidden one.

If this is a bolt on neck, a shim can be placed at the heel of the neck and will not be visible at all once the neck is attatched. The shim does not run the length of the pocket, but is only present at the heel, in order to tilt the neck back slightly. It only needs to be as wide as the pocket and about 1/2" long, and about the thickness of a business card. You'd never know it was there unless you dissassambled the guitar.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Like this:

In the pic above I'm using card stock, but this is for illustration purposes only. The body is an old junky epiphone body that's been laying around here forever, and needs to be thrown away. But it serves for illustration.
You can see it's a small, thin shim, and I can assure you no one would ever know it was there. But it will tilt the neck back enough to let you raise the saddles quite a bit. You'd be surprised. If you need more angle use a thicker shim (within reason). I used a piece of old library card to shim my Precision bass, because the adjustment studs in the saddle were sticking way up above the saddles, and I didn't like the look. The library card is 3 times the thickness of a buisiness card(roughly), and you absolutely cannot tell it's there. I like harder material because there's not as much danger of it compressing over time like card stock might, but card stock is used quite a bit for this purpose. It would take about 15 minutes to install and adjust the saddle heights to see. You've got nothing to lose but that small amount of time in trying it out. And it might save you a lot of work. MHO.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

The neck is already underway. I still think a shim would have to huge to get the strings 1/4"+ higher off the body and still maintain low action in the upper frets, maybe I am wrong. Plus, I would prefer for there to be no gap in the overhang, which is pretty large considering there is 24 frets.

I do appreciate the replies Mike, its a good idea and will keep it in mind for futures issues like this.

Yeah, after I posted I read a comment of yours in another thread, and realized the neck build was underway. Good luck with it. Can you salvage the old neck? Maybe build another body just for it? I hate to see all your work (and cash) go to waste. But building the neck is one of the truely fun parts of guitarbuilding, anyway.

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Mike

The only thing nescessary for evil to thrive is for good men to do nothing.

Thanks. I might be able to salvage the old one later on, would probably have to replace the headstock veneer which is too unique to match to anything else. Its not the time or the cash (got great deals on the woods) that I hate going to waste, its the resources. Oh well, I guess that is an inevitable part of the learning curve that the sooner you eliminate the better.
I agree, the neck is the most enjoyable part of building solid bodies, sometimes the most aggravating though.