Recently I bought a moderately cheap Westone Flying V guitar. (Not a Japanese one, but one of those German - made in China) Everything was pretty much OK, except that the strings were a little to high for my taste. I tried to lower the action by putting on lighter gauge strings and tightening the truss rod and it worked quite well for a while. And then a few days ago I noticed a gap between the neck and the body, so I tightened the screws holding the neck and the strings just dropped flat on the fingerboard. I unscrewed the neck to see what's going on there and I saw a crudely hollowed top part of the neck pocket and I also found a guitar pick and a piece of plastic in there. Also the neck didn't sit in the pocket just right, it was more than a little wobbly. At this point I decided to fill the sides of the neck pocket with wood putty so it would get a more snug fit, and I also filled the hollowed out part and sanded it all to a perfect fit. When I reassembled the guitar I noticed that the strings were way too high and I was a witness to the reason why the previous owner decided to hollow out the top half of the neck pocket and shim the base of the neck.
Now for the begging for help part... :)
Could anyone help me with fixing this problem? Does anyone have an idea that can last longer than the one the previous owner had? Should I glue a piece of wood to the base of the neck to raise it? At a certain angle maybe?
Lowering the bridge, I think, is out of the question, since it is a stop tailpiece with a tune-o-matic-like bridge and it at it's lowest. I've been thinking (since it's sitting on the pickguard) about cutting or drilling the pickguard so the bridge sits directly on the body, but that wouldn't lower the strings a whole lot.
I thank any and all of you from the bottom of my heart for reading this in hope someone has a solution to this.
Come on guys - a reconstruction project. Get stuck in.
Porx - welcome to the party. Any chance of some pix so these guys can see what they're playing with?
"Be good at what you can do" - Fingerbanger"
I have always felt that it is better to do what is beautiful than what is 'right'" - Eliot Fisk
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OK... so if your going to put time and money into this, first you need to stop, sit down, and get a baseline down. You need to get the neck where it should be, then take some mesurements, and progress from there. Once you have a idea where you need to be.....then you can figure out what it will take to get you there. At this point I think your going to have to cut some shims to save it. Sounds like some eather butcherd it bad, or its a bitsa guitar, and the neck/body plain dont fit each other.
To start, Id get some thin strips of wood. Start with the rear [bridge side] of the neck pocket, and shim it up a little. Grab a streight edge and lay it on the fretboard, and see where it intersects with the TOM bridge. Mess around a little like that, and get it diled in. Once you get to where you want to be, string her up, and do a setup, and see where you are. Might have to redo it a few times.... After its set pull it apart, cut a taperd shim to match the mesurments of your test shims, and you should be OK.
Probably not the pro way to do it, but it will produce a playable guitar at least.
Paul B
Perfectly pro advice s1120. Find the angle you need the neck set at and shim it up.
Well thanks for your ideas and help. I really appreciate the effort.
Through a lot of research, google-ing, your ideas and other forums, and since I do not have access to professional tools I came to this solution. (Well haven't fixed it yet, but this is what I'm working on) I cut a piece of wood at an angle and glued it to the joint of the neck. I'm about to grind and sand it, and hopefully it will work just fine.
The neck pocket:
The neck:
The piece of wood I cut the shim from:
Applied glue:
Fixing the shim to the neck:
Would you say it's at least close to ok?
Looks good! There is no reason that shouldn't work.
Would you say it's at least close to ok?
You will find out when its together, and you string her up. Good luck!!
Paul B
Looks like you are on your way.
If it was me doing it, I wouldn't have glued the shim. I would have let the neck screws clamp it in place.
At least until I have everything perfectly set up, and had lived with it for a while.
See this thread for one reason why
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
