Small gap at heel normal..?

[Grim_pickins]

Coming from set-neck guitars, I’ve always heard bolt ons should have a precision fit neck joint/pocket with no gap. I’m looking at buying a stingray HT and asked the seller to send some neck pocket pics, and everything looks good and snug on the sides and most of the way up the back, but there seems to be a very small gap at the top of the heel as the neck exits the pocket. It almost looks like the pocket tapers away from the neck ever so slightly. I’m talking like 1mm. Is this normal? Maybe by design to account for expansion of the wood? You can fit a piece of paper a little ways in at all sides but not very far. Just want to confirm this is all normal before I pull the trigger.

https://imgur.com/a/YRmtV9g

https://imgur.com/a/PPRuiEW

https://imgur.com/a/wRD7kfL

 

[Rbg]

No it is not, easily fixable. You can loosen the screws and wiggle the neck a bit. Then when it seats properly, tighten the screws in a cross pattern. Also, I’d inspect the shim and how it is positioned.

 

[DrKev]

Coming from set-neck guitars, I’ve always heard bolt ons should have a precision fit neck joint/pocket with no gap.

No, this is a common misunderstanding. While a snug but not tight fit is preferred by many, a *small* amount of room around the sides of the joint to allow for different expansion rates of the neck and body woods is a good idea. 1/2 millimeter gap would be a lot. What I'm seeing in your photos is excessive for that part of the joint. I'd expect more complete contact at that part of the neck pocket. But I'm certain it's very easily fixed corrected.

Obviously, I'm looking at somebody else's photos and don't have the guitar in front of me, so a I correct diagnosis is not a promise but the first thing I'd be looking for is a raised lip of wood around the edges of the screw holes which may be causing the gap. Easily fixed. Also, sometimes the holes in the body side of the neck pocket can be are a little snug and the screws thread into the body wood instead of only threading into the neck wood. That can cause similar issues. Again, easily fixed.

 

[Grim_pickins]

No it is not, easily fixable. You can loosen the screws and wiggle the neck a bit. Then when it seats properly, tighten the screws in a cross pattern. Also, I’d inspect the shim and how it is positioned.

There’s no shim. This is a brand new stingray HT with a fixed bridge.

 

[jlf599]

There’s no shim. This is a brand new stingray HT with a fixed bridge.

I could be wrong, but I do believe there are often factory installed/placed shims.

 

[Johnny Alien]

That actually looks pretty tight to me but when I have seen small gaps on that side of the neck its usually because the screw needs to be tightened down more to bring the neck down. Sometimes there is a reason its being prevented from closing the gap and honestly I will have a difficult time describing them correctly but here's me trying.

One reason is that the screw hole in the body is not wide enough. The screw should go through the body pretty easily often times without even need to be screwed because you want that screw to pull the neck down. If the body hole is too tight it will stop screwing before pulling the neck tight. Another reason is that sometimes the wood can splinter up a bit around the screw hole in the neck creating a little particle of wood between the body and neck. If you see that you can take a small chisel and get rid of it. BUT like I said that actually looks pretty tight to me.

 

[Johnny Alien]

Oh, I see that Dr. Kev basically described both of my scenarios. I will go about my business now

 

[DrKev]

Oh, I see that Dr. Kev basically described both of my scenarios. I will go about my business now

Between the two of us, I think it's clearer than before!