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