Squeaky neckpocket?

[Alexeh]

Well since I got my Jem in last December I've noticed that occasionally it squeaks when I pick it up [when its laying on the pickup face, flat on my knees]. I've did fix it for a while by tightening one of the screws but now I took off the neck and no matter where I screw in and in which order.. it does not fix the heavy squeaking.

Also the pickguard is slightly riding up the neck on the side of the low E string, not sure if that has anything to do with it [since it was fixed before without touching the guard]. The last hint is that everytime I adjust the top right screw I get it a 'click' just as it reached max tightening point.

Can anybody help me out? I did do a search, but loosening other screws slightly isn't very succesful. Although, if this is the one way to go tell me and.. I'll try that for another hour!

Regards,
Alex

Edit: For another 20 minutes I tried loosening the screws piece by piece, everything gets maxed out in turns and the neck still moves, you can hear and feel it. Is there an order I should follow?

I also get this excess noise on the D strings 12th fret until I press the neck down towards the 'neck side' and its fine again.

[nlinny]

Not sure whether or not you know, but the 4 screws have different lengths and need to go back in the correct hole. If you put a long screw in a short hole, you may pop the fingerboard. That may be the clicking you're hearing.

[albee1952]

Good point above. A possible solution to a neck that keeps shifting; get a sanding screen from home depot(for sanding drywall mud) and cut a piece to fit in the neck pocket. Screw in the neck screws nice and tight and the screen "bite" into the wood a little on both the neck and the pocket and this should help stop the shifting. Clicking noises can also come from a few other places. First, check the locking nut to see if the blocks are snug AND the bolts holding the nut onto the neck are tight. Sometimes the bridge itself may rub slightly in the cavity or the springs may rub against wood inside the spring cavity. Badly worn studs might creak or click too.