[stratoskier]

Hi,
I'm assembling a guitar that was purchased in two parts: neck and body, though they were supposedly originally mated. When I bolted on the neck and strung it up, I discoverd that the high-E string was way too close to the edge of the fretboard (~2.5mm). As suggested in an older thread, I tried tweaking the neck to the side as I bolted it up, but that didn't help much. I also tried loosening the 6-tremelo screws on the Wilkinson tremelo and edging the trem to the side, but I didn't get enough out of that either.

So it seems like there are two options to consider:
1) Remount the trem by drilling new holes to give better string alignment (that is, moving the trem toward the low-E side of the body), or
2) Shave some wood from the high-E side of the neck pocket to enable me to move the neck further that direction. This would probably also require a shim of some sort on the low-E side of the pocket.

I'm not sure which of these is the way to go and am curious what others have done in similar situations. Are there any other options I'm not considering?

Thanks,
Bert

 

[Algiman]

Tweak the neck further first.

 

[ryanb]

Number two is the one you want. Trim and shim the neck pocket as necessary, IMO. But be really sure it won't work the way it is first.

 

[frankfalbo]

What kind of guitar is it? I would determine which method of correction by looking at where the pickups (and pickguard if there is one) fall in the equation. If they are perfectly lined up, then leave the bridge and move the neck. If they are also crooked, then the neck is right but the bridge isn't. You might only need to fill and re-drill a couple screw holes, because doesn't that Wilkinson only have two that are round? You can try completely removing those two, and then nudging the bridge. Is there enough bridge play then?

Last, but perhaps most important and most obvious: Those Wilkinson saddles should pivot left and right. Currently are they perpendicular to the baseplate? Or are they slightly angled towards the treble side? Even if they're straight, you could set them all to be on an angle towards the bass side. That could be the quickest, and biggest "doh!" fix for now.