Attaching a neck - is this overkill?

Posted by Jon Pruett on April 19, 2011 at 11:04am

This is my first magnetic pickup build, and the donated telecaster neck pickup is so tall that I had to cut completely through the neck to make it fit.  So I glued in some braces and came up with an aluminum plate and bolt setup to try and keep the neck from flexing.  Does anyone think this is overkill, or on the opposite side do you think it's weak enough to be a serious risk?

 

 

Thanks,

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Replies

  • Jon Pruett April 26, 2011 at 8:50am
    Ipe is definitely hard on tools - carbide tiped saws and drills are a must, and it doesn't sand at the same speed as the oak I laminated it into which made shaping the neck a little interesting. But the end result is well worth the effort!
  • Mark Bliss April 26, 2011 at 1:19am

    The t-nuts sound like a good improvement to me, flush fitting them into the back of the braces would make for a strong compressed assembly.

    Glad to hear it came out well and sounds good. I will watch for a sound test posting!

    How was the Ipe to work with? I have some I am planning to experiment with. Hard stuff! I hear it can be hard on tooling.

    Mark

  • Jon Pruett April 25, 2011 at 1:54pm

    The results are in - this worked great!  The beast has a great tone and a sustain that seems to go on forever. The neck is very solid indeed.  On the next one I think I'll predrill and install t-nuts before I glue the braces into the box - the screw in bolt inserts were a real pain to install.  I'll see about recording a video this week so folks can hear how well it turned out.

     

    http://www.cigarboxnation.com/photo/albums/cbg-11-telecaster-4-string

     

    Thanks for the tips!

  • Jon Pruett April 19, 2011 at 5:37pm

    Thanks for the critique!  The gap between the plate and the blocking is an illusion - here's a disassembled picture of the plate and the wood spacer I made to go under it (cause my bolts were too long and I didn't feel like cutting them).  I've been avoiding the glued in neck idea so far, but the time for that is coming soon. It usually takes me several test assembly cycles to get everything exactly how I want it and I'm afraid once I glue it in I'll have a heck of a time correcting something in place. Oh well - like we say in software design - that's not a bug, it's a feature! :)

    305719842?profile=original

     

  • Mark Bliss April 19, 2011 at 1:15pm

    Hi Jon,

    I would think that would be plenty strong for at least 3-4 strings, theres some unknowns here though, such as what the bolts are threaded into.

    One thing that concerns me, and it might be an illusion, is the gap under the plate assembly at the upper end of the photo. I fear if everything doesnt fit good, it might cause some "twist" in the assembly once tightened up.

    Intended only as constructive criticism, I would probably have done it differently, as follows. (Thats not to say in anyway I think your way wont work. Do it, let us know how it works!)

    I would have probably either filled the box with a glued up assembly that included the neck, or placed a slab on the back of the neck, the remaining thickness of the inside of the box and run it full length of the inside of the box, routing/cutting only as deep as needed from the front to allow the pickup installation.

    To me the important consideration is always the solid support of the string load, not only to minimize neck deflection or warping, but to maximize sustain. Anything that flexes whatsoever, tuner to string termination, can have the effect of dampening/absorbing the strings vibration. I am especially picky about this on solid body/mag pickup builds.

     

    Have fun!

    Mark

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