Started on the Jazzmaster today. My first intention was to have a look at how the neck fitted, but it’s going to need quite a bit of work.
Not fitting very well, or at all actually. I don’t want to force it or I’ll damage the body and neck.
To make things a little more complicated the heel of the neck isn’t square….
The neck pocket seems to be about the same shape so actually It shouldn’t be too difficult. I’ve measured closely and it’s about 1mm to wide at the thick end and 0.5 at the thinner end.
Rather than trying to cut the neck down I think I’m going to take it out of the body. Before I can do that I need to be able to use some thick thread to make sure I get the angle right but I can’t do that without a bridge or nut, and there isn’t much point in fitting a nut until the fret-board is done.
It’s a brand new neck, but they are never perfect out of the box, unless you spend a small fortune and get one that’s been hand finished that is.
It’s not bad, I’ve seen a lot worse but to make this guitar play really nicely I’m going to dress the frets which will allow a really good setup.
Next the nut. I’ve got some pre-shaped ones which is a good place to start. This one is just a little too thick.
So it needs grinding down a little. It’s not far off so I can do that by hand.
The curve of the bottom doesn’t quite match either. This fret-board has a 10″ radius and the nut is probably 7 1/2″…
With adhesive backed sand-paper and a bit of work it’ll do nicely. It’s very important that the nut is fitted properly or it’ll badly effect the sustain.
The string slots are already started so I need to make sure the nut is in the right place and not offset. The ends are a little long so I need to grind the excess off, a little each end.
Last job for the day, the machine heads. There isn’t really anywhere this can go wrong, they are quite a snug fit but I want to make sure the line straight, hence the steel rule taped to the neck.
That’s a fair days work on the neck, tomorrow I’ll have a go a fitting it to the body.
Keep watching.