Gap in neck pocket of my AL HH

[steins76]

Hi.

Just bought this second hand and was wondering if this gap is normal?



I've owned over 8 Music Man guitars and none have this kind of gap. Guitar plays beautifully otherwise.



Cheers,
Stein

 

[Norrin Radd]

Have you tried loosening the neck bolts a couple turns and then gently wiggling the neck around to try and seat it better in the pocket?

If that doesn't work, call customer service and see what advice they can give you. It also would help to have a picture of the other side of the pocket.

 

[steins76]

Was gonna loosen the neck bolts to reposition the neck but they were pretty tight so decided against it. Will take photos of the other side later but from looking at it yesterday, the other side looks normal.

Have you tried loosening the neck bolts a couple turns and then gently wiggling the neck around to try and seat it better in the pocket?

If that doesn't work, call customer service and see what advice they can give you. It also would help to have a picture of the other side of the pocket.

 

[steins76]

Ok, i did try to loosen the neck screw and moved the neck to reduce the gap and it did reduce a bit but there's still a tiny gap.

Took some pics of both sides of the neck joins..

Have you tried loosening the neck bolts a couple turns and then gently wiggling the neck around to try and seat it better in the pocket?

If that doesn't work, call customer service and see what advice they can give you. It also would help to have a picture of the other side of the pocket.

 

[Spudmurphy]

I have to say that It didn't look right in the picture at the outset - and TBH although improved, it doesn't look right to me now.

The caveat being it's so difficult to offer advice via photos over the net.

 

[DrKev]

The caveat being it's so difficult to offer advice via photos over the net.

Very true! Having said that...

First, remember that a perfectly tight neck pocket is not desirable (need a *little* room for expansion). Even though we are all used to a good fit from EBMM, manufacturing tolerances on the size of the neck pocket and neck heel mean that there is an acceptable range of fit that will leave the factory. But even in the worst case scenario of a large gap on the sides, the neck is still held in place firmly and there is no structural issues at all. Too loose is always better than too tight. And some play in the neck pocket helps to ensure good string alignment over the neck. Which you need to look at first...

In your first post, the photo show the strings too close to the treble side of the neck. Loosen the neck bolts about 1 turn and shift the neck in the pocket to align the string over the neck. Get the string alignment right, hold the neck in place and tighten the screws, like this...

THEN look at the gap in the neck pocket. If a thin guitar pick (0.5 mm) fits with room to spare, it's probably a bigger gap than most people will accept (though not structurally an problem, as I said before). Personally, until the gap gets close to medium pick/credit card size I'd probably still be happy but based on a similar thread a few weeks back, I seem to be particularly tolerant in that regard.

 

[steins76]

Thanks for your replies. The strings are all aligned nicely so will leave it for now since structurally it is ok.

Will leave it for a few weeks and check on it again. Maybe the handlers were a bit rough with it when it travelled from USA to Australia.

 

[xjbebop]

Unless the neck is shifting during use and handling, I wouldn't worry about it.
How does it feel, play and sound? Just rock that sucker!!

There is the other side of the fence with a number of guitars with the pocket so tight that they get finish cracks in the corners....

 

[CHill]

Awesome guitar. Neck pocket looks good and allows for some rosewood swell without body paint stress. I'd rock that HH as is, especially with the 12th fret bfr tag.

 

[Ishmun]

I've got the twin of that guitar in Australia too! (non bfr tho )

I've also got a little gap, nothing too striking and as its been said, not sure it would call any structural probs at all

cheers mate

 

[steins76]

They are amazing guitars right!!

Was checking on my 25th Anniversary/Reflex guitar and noticed that the neck plate on that guitar has a hairline crack in it?! Weird as I've never taken the neck off and played with the screws at all. Guitar plays well apart from that so hope it won't get worse.

I've got the twin of that guitar in Australia too! (non bfr tho )

I've also got a little gap, nothing too striking and as its been said, not sure it would call any structural probs at all

cheers mate

 

[DrKev]

They are amazing guitars right!!

Was checking on my 25th Anniversary/Reflex guitar and noticed that the neck plate on that guitar has a hairline crack in it?! Weird as I've never taken the neck off and played with the screws at all.

Neck screw was overtightened at some point in time. Nothing to worry about.