Help/Advice/Opinions welcome...

[satchmo]

I'm embarking on my first project and through a mixture of naivety and simple bloody stupidness have come upon my first hurdle..

I bought a cheapo body off the bay which it seems is either an RG220 or 320 - the seller wasn't sure but since it's routed for two humbuckers I was happy enough with it. Subsequently I found a neck I liked the look of from an RG5EX1 (sucker for reverse headstock and sharktooth inlays) and although I know it's Indonesian made it is in very good nick and has all the hardware with it.

This is where the stupidity kicks in. I assumed that an AANJ neck would fit a neck pocket of an AANJ body but alas not so. For a start the screw holes don't align so I could fill/dowel the existing neck holes and re-drill but what's more worrying is the height of the fretboard above the body when seated (see pic below).



The obvious choice would be to move both neck and body on but would appreciate any opinions or explanations as to the differing depths of neck pockets on AANJ bodies. I'd prefer to hang on to the neck as it looks almost new but I'm worried that if I buy another AANJ body that I'll have exactly the same problem

Thanks

[Jaden]

satchmo, you have more options here than I can write down, needless to say now you know why I dont drill screwholes in new necks for bodies I havent matched them with.
I would imagine you may have had a bit of trouble with the neck pocket width also ?

without seeing the rest of the body its hard to tell if you will get away with that neck/body height thing.

as for neck pocket depths and widths, they do vary a lot depending it seems on where the body was made.

[kspeed]

Yea, it would help if we could see the trem and pickup routes, but chances are you can safely sand down that neck pocket to get the fingerboard closer to the body.

[satchmo]

Actually, the width is spot on, a really snug fit. I could try and take some more pics to give you a better idea of the whole rig but I have just measured the distance from fretboard to body and it's 9mm. I've got an RG and an S, both with edge binding and on those the binding is pretty much flush with the body itself.

[satchmo]

Here are a couple of pics of the trem and pickup routes if that helps any

[LonePhantom]

I'd just be sanding neck pocket, and maybe also the neck itself a bit to find a nice spot in the middle.

[kspeed]

Originally Posted by LonePhantom

I'd just be sanding neck pocket, and maybe also the neck itself a bit to find a nice spot in the middle.

That's exactly what I did to a project 06 S520. Sanded down the neck pocket substantially and the base of the neck a bit.



End result: close to a FGM

[kspeed]

Also, from what I can tell, those routes are plenty deep that you can sand down the neck pocket and the base of the neck to a comfortable point.

[satchmo]

Thanks for all the input..

kspeed, I'm worried about weakening the neck joint by taking off what's gonna amount to about 4mm. Did you have any concerns or is everything solid?

Jaden, I'd value your top two options if you'd care to share. I'm still torn between moving the whole lot onwards and having a go with what I've got.

Anyone filled/redrilled necks? Is dowel the way to go or are there better ways?

Ta

[kspeed]

Oh yea, I had plenty of concerns since mahogany is fairly soft, the body has an AANJ and the neck is from 87 and was therefore drilled for a block shaped joint. I filled the old holes in the neck with dowels and drilled 3 new ones, sort of like the 70's style Fender neck joints. It's plenty solid now.

[Jaden]

well, the #1 best option is to fit the trem and a set of old strings and try to set it up without changing or sanding or routing anything.
if it sets up fine and plays ok and you think that the pickups will get up to a reasonabley good height (if youre using rings) then there is nothing to worry about apart from the asthetics of the neck being higher from the top of the guitar than usual.

if it needs deeper seating in the pocket my preference would be to take most of the material from the neck pocket as others have said and a little from the neck.

[satchmo]

OK, so this has been on the back burner for a while but I eventually got around to buying a trem, not an OFR but one licenced under patent etc etc, which dimension wise was fine to replace the lo-trs that was originally fitted. Clearance wise, the new trem looks good but the studs that came with it don't fit in the existing stud holders so my question now (having scoured the net) is where can I get some original TRS studs from or can I remove the existing holders?

The latter option looks like a non-starter to me because they look to be solid and removing them is likely to damage the body.

Alternatively does anyone know if studs from an edge, lo-pro etc would fit in the existing holders?

Last option....is anyone looking for a project because this one is driving me around the friggin' bend