DIY Heel Contour

jaymenon

I found these pics on Strat talk.

 I wonder how difficult it would be to do this DIY - considering I’ve never attempted anything like this before and have very little experience with woodwork…

And is it worth doing without sculpting / removing wood from the back surface of the lower Horn?

I have a natural finished old Warmoth body and I do have an offset Fender deluxe type neck plate…

https://i.imgur.com/eI0hSSm.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/zELhRiw.jpg

https://i.imgur.com/jgehW9X.jpg

WezV

i wouldn't do it on a natural one as the filled screw hole will be visible. It needs a matching wood type plug for the screw hole, not a softwood dowel .  Not necessarily grain matched if doing a solid finish, but it can't be a vastly different wood with the grain going the wrong way, or it will reappear through the finish later

The other big risk is finish chipping, avoided above with a fine file rather than a rasp.   

Funkfingers

Everything Wez said.

An alternative approach that you may see is to chamfer the entire area beneath the neck anchoring plate. This will slightly reduce the obstruction caused by a squared off corner.

FWIIW, amongst my assorted T type guitars, the modern one has the sculpted heel and the faux Fifties ones are the traditional shape. I notice no significant difference.

I just shift my hand position towards the uppermost frets in much the same way that I do on a Les Paul. Obviously, it helps to have long digits.

andy_k

I have done it in a slightly different way, using a cut down neck plate.
The original lower left screw ( as in your pics ) is cut shorter, and countersunk into the chamfered wood area, and the equivalent hole in the neck plate is just filled with a short screw, which holds the plate in place if the neck is removed.
I realise this is maybe not the most elegant solution, but it meant I did not have to drill extra holes into the neck, and the neck plate I used was cut away enough that I had room to countersink the screw, the screw has to be shortened by the amount it is lowered.
Anything is possible, but wood is easier to remove than it is to put back.

jaymenon

THanks chaps for your insightful comments...

andy_k said:

I have done it in a slightly different way, using a cut down neck plate.
The original lower left screw ( as in your pics ) is cut shorter, and countersunk into the chamfered wood area, and the equivalent hole in the neck plate is just filled with a short screw, which holds the plate in place if the neck is removed.
I realise this is maybe not the most elegant solution, but it meant I did not have to drill extra holes into the neck, and the neck plate I used was cut away enough that I had room to countersink the screw, the screw has to be shortened by the amount it is lowered.
Anything is possible, but wood is easier to remove than it is to put back.

That's really interesting @andy_k - simple yet ingenious...

abw1989

When I did my build, I didn't both with the chamfer, I just took the whole corner off and put a nice round over on the whole thin. Granted this just shifts your exposed screw hole to the neck though....