What they don't tell you...?

Flip

For the second time in my kit building career, I've come across an element that appears to be common to kit suppliers and that's how far into the neck pocket of a set-in model the tongue of the neck is supposed to fit.  I nearly cocked up a Coban PRS model with two humbuckers by following their otherwise very helpful advice and glueing the neck as far into the pocket as it would go.

The result was that I had to butcher the neck pickup surround to fit round the end of the neck. Luckily the difference was sufficiently slight that I was still able to intonate the instrument.

As well as finishing my entry into the Q1 competition, I'm now working on a Guitar Kit Fabrik ES335 and because I was aware from my Coban experience, checked the position of the neck. It was excellently made, so tight some careful sanding of the pocket was necessary for it to go in at all but with the neck humbucker in place, the correct position for the tongue is definitely not all the way into the pocket.

The neck angle also gave me some concern but fortunately I own a real Gibson ES335 and I was able to make a decent if eyeball comparison between the two and the GKF version seems about right.

I know some people here feel that kits are something of a cheat but I'm not a natural woodworker so for others in my position I thought it worth passing on.

WezV

Kits are not a cheat, but its always worth checking how much work you will actually need to do.  I've not seen a set neck build yet that comes with the neck ready to glue straight in, even expensive kits needed some final fettling of the join before the glue comes out.  Even with simple bolt on kits  some wood work may still be required.

Whether its a kit, or building from scratch the same guidance applies.   Measure twice, test fit, do a dry run without glue etc..

paulnb57

WezV said:

Whether its a kit, or building from scratch the same guidance applies.   Measure twice, test fit, do a dry run without glue etc..

Wisdom! ALWAYS check and double check, NEVER assume anything, NEVER apply finish before test fitting everything….ALWAYS test fit…..

Funkfingers

Flip said:

… how far into the neck pocket of a set-in model the tongue of the neck is supposed to fit.

This would be equally true of the screwed-in neck of a PRS CE or (USA) EG kit.

If the neck heel and pocket were not pre-drilled for the anchoring screws, the pickguard or pickup surrounds would be the only outwardly visible clues to the correct neck position.

Admittedly, the "step" at the end of the fingerboard is a bit of a clue.

downbytheriver

When making my Coban 335 kit I glued the neck in as far as it would go. No problem with the neck pickup and intonation is spot on. 

When I was looking about I decided that the Coban and Guitar Fabrik kits were the same - any comment on that? 

Flip

Not in my experience. Both are very helpful but Guitar Kit Fabric people all seem to be French, their 'manuals are definitely not written by a native English speaker - and at present, they're less expensive.  Going back to my original point despite what Coban said the tenon on my PRS from Coban shouldn't have been glued in as far as it would sit in the socket.

I encountered exactly the same situation with the ES335 kit from GKF I'm currently making. I asked the question and they provided the scale length and confirmed that the tenon should be glued to produce that distance nut to bridge which is NOT fully in the pocket.

Finally, re differences, I've been satisfied with the stuff I bought from Coban but if you're modding (and I do a lot) GKF pilot drills only the minimum of holes, Coban's supplier drills the lot.

Oh and one other thing as far as I can make out the kits from both suppliers (and most of the others in that price range) have ceramic magnets. Thus, if you want better tones, you need to factor in Alnico pickups.