Changing Necks

[SeanB]

If I am to get a new neck for my RG. What sort of set up's am I going to expect.

It says in many guides, remember which screws which go in which holes because of the threads etc....does this mean I'm going to have to drill new holes because the threads will be different.

I'm not too sure at what other sort of troubles I may encounter with this so it would be nice if somebody could give me a heads up or even a little guide on an efficient way to swap necks with as minimal hassle as possible.

Thanks
-Sean

[bluealien]

A got a new Ibanez neck, I had to drill the 4 neck holes, 2 screws for the tention bar above the locking nut and 3 screws holes for the truss rod cover, and the screw holes for the tuning pegs.

[SeanB]

to the guitar shop for me.....

I don't think I'm going to be very confident drilling holes in a rather pricey neck.....

[Ki swordsman]

first- remember you need a neck the same scale and fret no. as your original one, and the same nut setup usually

it depends what you get, if you get an ibanez neck off e-bay or a fully completed custom ibanez neck, it'll usually be a direct hardware and neck swap and you may simply need to adjust truss rod, nut height, neck pocket angle(if necessary) to get it setup well.. which are really quite easy setup issues once you know what to do and you can get the nut sorted by a tech if it's not a floyd nut..

i think blue alien was probably talking about a custom neck by a luthier or company who didn't predrill those holes.. i doubt it would have been an original ibanez neck

[Demiurge]

Originally Posted by SeanB

It says in many guides, remember which screws which go in which holes because of the threads etc....does this mean I'm going to have to drill new holes because the threads will be different.

Don't be too concerned about that necessarily- it's not about the threading as much as the screw length. On many bolt-on guitars where the the body at the neck joint is sculpted (where there's more wood closer to the neck pickup area and tapers off a bit), shorter screws are used to compensate so that each neck screw goes into the neck the same amount and not too far. Always check to see how deep the holes are drilled into the neck and make sure that the screws you are using aren't significantly longer than that- you don't want the screw getting into fretboard territory.

As far as drilling new holes is concerned- it's very easy, but you have to be careful to drill straight and to the correct depth.

[SeanB]

I'll be buying another RG neck that has come from another RG guitar. (not a copy)

I fancied a MIJ neck.

Basically...RG550 neck onto RG350

[bluealien]

When I drilled mine I use a dremel tool and used another neck that was the same to measure the hole depths

you can then just make the drill.

what I like about the dremel is its drills at very slow speed, or is you have a adjustable drill press that would work too, but I didnt have mine at that time.

have fun

[Lordiesel]

I had alot of trouble attatching a 570 neck onto a rg 270. New holes will need to be drilled cause the spacing is very different. Only problem is.... the new holes for the headstock side screws were on the edge of the original holes.... so ull end up with two very open screw holes if u dont fill the original holes up. I just woke up..... i hope this makes sense.