Precise position of scratchplate on LP Junior

Flip

I'm just completing a guitar based on a kit by Guitar Kit Fabric. Can someone tell me if the scratchplate butts up to the end of the fretboard/neck? There appears to be space for the scratchplate to slip under the fretboard but is this correct? The difference is very slight and would put the neck length within reasonable tolerance and allow proper intonation.

WezV

It depends on the neck join on the junior.

Assuming its a DC, Some have all of the fretboard off the body, some have the last bit of fretboard on the body

Do you have a link to the kit?

Flip

Thanks Wez. It's actually a single cut.

https://guitarkitfabric.co.uk/diy-guitar-lp-junior-p-90-ebony-7141269526450-en.html

There's certainly an overhang of the fretboard beyond the neck. My question is whether this has scratchplate between it and the body.

Flip

WezV

Oh okay.  Not traditional junior.

The overhang can go over the plate.  Just position it where it looks best

Funkfingers

Flip said:

Can someone tell me if the scratchplate butts up to the end of the fretboard/neck? There appears to be space for the scratchplate to slip under the fretboard but is this correct? The difference is very slight and would put the neck length within reasonable tolerance and allow proper intonation.

It is conventional for the pickguard to butt up against the heel of the set neck.

More fundamentally, it is NECESSARY for the neck to butt up against the end of the pocket. 

The kit photos appear to show a sloping neck pocket floor to govern the neck pitch angle. Ideally, the end face of the pocket should be perpendicular to its floor. Otherwise, there will be an air gap. (Perhaps, the fingerboard extension is intended to hide this?)

On the majority of Gibson solidbody set neck designs, it is not conventional for the fingerboard to overhang the end of the neck. If anything, it should be the other way around.

e.g. On the DC versions, as described by WezV, the fingerboard ends where it meets the body. The neck tenon joint extends beneath the pickguard about as far as where a neck/Rhythm position pickup would be on a Special.

Speaking of joints, the kit neck heel and pocket amount to a Fender type minus the screws and anchor plate. (In this respect, my ancient mk3 Melody Maker is very similar.) I'm not confident of how stable the kit would be during and after gluing. Going to take some serious clamping.

WezV

Funkfingers said:

....

The kit photos appear to show a sloping neck pocket floor to govern the neck pitch angle. Ideally, the end face of the pocket should be perpendicular to its floor. Otherwise, there will be an air gap. (Perhaps, the fingerboard extension is intended to hide this?)

....

Speaking of joints, the kit neck heel and pocket amount to a Fender type minus the screws and anchor plate. (In this respect, my ancient mk3 Melody Maker is very similar.) I'm not confident of how stable the kit would be during and after gluing. Going to take some serious clamping.

Nah, 

Its ideal for the end of neck to match the body nicely, but the join won't really be much weaker if it doesnt as end grain to end grain joins dont add strength.  A good fit on that bit just helps it all align nicely.

The pocket on this may be "fender style", but in reality it's only slightly shorter than the gibson equivalent.  It also looks deeper than either.  There is plenty of glue surface area for a good join.   The amount you clamp will have no effect on this, unless its too little pressure to get it well seated.  Clamps dont make a join stronger.

Flip

Help and comments are much appreciated. FWIW I've measured the actual neck/pocket and it looks to me that most of the necessary angle is achieved by the shape of the heel and only a little or maybe none by the depth of the pocket.

Given the relative thinness of the body at the pocket t seemed obvious that the design means that maximum contact should be achieved between the neck and the pocket. I have to note that another of the same company's models (ES335) that I'm also working on, has a similar thickness of wood at the neck/pocket joint. They've also confirmed that the fretboard overhang is intentional and the supplied scratchplate can be fitted underneath the overhang.

FWIW another kit I made a couple of years ago from another company also had a set in neck. Made from mahogany like the present guitar, that also has about the same thickness of wood in the pocket.

Actually, about this aspect I should probably feel more concerned about the 335 because the body wood at that joint (the centre block common to 335 guitars) is acajou even though the references all suggest it's comparable with mahogany. Incidentally, the centre block on this company's kit is approx 5mm narrower than Gibson's. Mind you, since Gibson used balsa wood in a few 335 variants - for lightness presumably - perhaps I shouldn't worry.

WezV

I had a 335 kit years ago where the block was slightly narrower.  I was disturbed to see the tailpiece studs visible through the f-hole.  Thankfully it was only the very edge of the stud, and all was solid despite it

Flip

I wanted to substitute the supplied lyre-type tailpiece fastened over the bottom of the body with a combined wrap-over bride and tail that is wider. That's when I discovered the block was narrower than the Gibson block for which I had copies of the company's tech drawings. For different reasons that guitar is still to be completed but during the delay, I did manage to buy a gold-plated solid tailpiece with an embossed diamond shape that looks better.

It surprised me when I discovered that Gibson's Chet Atkins 335 models had Cromite blocks (their manufactured name for balsa wood) but obviously I was wrong to doubt its strength in the direction of the forces in action at that point.

WezV

Balsa is more closely related to mahogany than it is any softwood.

It works perfectly as a core wood inside a stronger structure.  You just cant expect it to hold a screw or not get squashed when under tension