Adjusting strat neck alignment

horse

My top e string is a bit too close to the edge of the fingerboard up the dusty end. Nut string spacing looks correct and saddles are straight, so having googled I think I need to give the neck a slight adjustment to shift the head 'up' very slightly. I can picture the adjustment needed in my head and imagine a very small adjustment will be all that's needed.

Sounds like I need to slacken off the strings, loosen the neck screws a little to allow the movement in the neck?

Any advice / things to watch out for? I've never removed a neck or loosened the screws before, but I'm guessing I shouldn't tighten them too much?

Thanks for any help.

JD50

I align necks exactly as you descibe. Just loosen the screws pull the neck straight & tighten the screws back up. I  just have the E strings on the guitar.

p90fool

I'm not recommending this, and someone with more brains will no doubt be along in a second, but I've always just slackened the screws half a turn, stuck my knee on the appropriate horn and given the neck a bit of a yank.

jimboflojo

I'm not a tech by any means but I have done that before on a us strat I had a while back and that's pretty much how I remember it, got the info from a dan erlewine setup book, not sure if u have to slacken the strings a bit or not but just loosen screws a bit, hold guitar on its side with pickups facing you, clamp it to your body with right armpit,push down or pull up on neck(depending which way it needs to go) with left hand and tighten screws back - shouldn't over tighten them if u don't go mad with a screwdriver and don't use a cordless drill!

ICBM

That's how I do it. Don't worry about overtightening the screws - the risk is the driver slipping and chewing up the screw heads. As long as you've got a really snug fit so that can't happen I always tighten them to the limit of my hand strength with a standard screwdriver.

If the neck still has a bit of a tendency to move, you can fix it either by shimming the side of the neck pocket (if it needs to go towards the treble side) or by gluing a pice of fine sandpaper to the floor of the pocket to increase the friction and stop it slipping.

JD50

jimboflojo said:

  info from a dan erlewine setup book,

  I have his guitar player repair guide which contains the set up book its brilliant, every guitar player should own a copy

Bogwhoppit

p90fool said:

 

 I've always just slackened the screws half a turn, stuck my knee on the appropriate horn and given the neck a bit of a yank.

Ditto, I've been doing that to strats since the 70s. Its still rare to find a new strat (USA made in particular) hanging on a dealers wall where the strings are not down the centre of the guitar. The MIJ strats seem to be far better aligned, followed by the Indonesian Argos Affinitys. Some of the CS Strats I've seen have been so far out on the top or bottom E string, that its hanging of the fretboard around the 21st fret.

OilCityPickups

p90fool said:

I'm not recommending this, and someone with more brains will no doubt be along in a second, but I've always just slackened the screws half a turn, stuck my knee on the appropriate horn and given the neck a bit of a yank.

yep ... that's the way most repair men have done it since Leo's day

horse

Thanks guys. I'll be giving this a try tomorrow. First time I've needed to do this after owning quite a few strats over the years - maybe I've been lucky before.

shuikit

One thing I read about is slackening the neck screws (1/2 a turn or so) whilst the strings are tuned up and the tension of the strings pulls the neck tighter into the pocket and then tighten them again. I noticed the top couple of strings rung clearer /stronger afterwards subtle but noticeable. The effect was not really noticeable on one guitar but more so on the other two.

horse

shuikit said:

One thing I read about is slackening the neck screws (1/2 a turn or so) whilst the strings are tuned up and the tension of the strings pulls the neck tighter into the pocket and then tighten them again. I noticed the top couple of strings rung clearer /stronger afterwards subtle but noticeable. The effect was not really noticeable on one guitar but more so on the other two.

Interesting. The Erlewine book doesn't mention slackening the strings off either for a minor adjustment. Seems surprising to me given the amount of tension, but sounds like this is the majority view.

ICBM

You definitely don't need to slacken the strings. If you're feeling very brave you can adjust the truss rod the original Fender way - remove the two innermost screws entirely, loosen the outer ones a half turn, then tilt the neck back far enough to get to the adjuster nut - all under full string tension.

:-O

It's tricky - you need to hold the body down with your right elbow and use the screwdriver at the same time, while you push the neck down with your left hand. But that's how they did it at the Fender factory!

stonevibe

shuikit said:

One thing I read about is slackening the neck screws (1/2 a turn or so) whilst the strings are tuned up and the tension of the strings pulls the neck tighter into the pocket and then tighten them again. I noticed the top couple of strings rung clearer /stronger afterwards subtle but noticeable. The effect was not really noticeable on one guitar but more so on the other two.

That is a really old trick and one I do with bolt ons fairly frequently. 

horse

Job done thanks guys. Think I may have pushed it very slightly too far, but I'd much rather have the extra room on the top e side and probably only about 1mm in it - found it hard to judge with the guitar facing into my body whilst tightening the screws. Much better than it was anyhow.

I did have a minor 'oh shit' moment at the creaking noises when I first loosened the screws!

thermionic

This is discussed in detail in Dan Erlewine's How To Make Your Electric Guitar Play Great - worth getting if you have the other book.

I've never really understood how this works though - slacken the screws and then tighten them up - won't they self-centre and the neck will end up in the same place?

martinw

stonevibe said:

shuikit said:

One thing I read about is slackening the neck screws (1/2 a turn or so) whilst the strings are tuned up and the tension of the strings pulls the neck tighter into the pocket and then tighten them again. I noticed the top couple of strings rung clearer /stronger afterwards subtle but noticeable. The effect was not really noticeable on one guitar but more so on the other two.

That is a really old trick and one I do with bolt ons fairly frequently. 

Me too. All the bolt-ons I've had.

Doesn't always make a difference; some must have been assembled better! In most cases though, there's an audible 'crack' and then all the strings are flat after re-tightening, showing that some movement must have happened. The guitar rings out noticeably better afterwards.

ESBlonde

Back in the late 70s with the huge neck socket and 3 bolt micro tilt it was not uncommon for the neck to move during more exuberent stage movements (OK it was punk era) and just grabbing the neck and body horn and giving it a yank could re-align the neck (and get you back in tune) in a trice.

OilCityPickups

ESBlonde said:

Back in the late 70s with the huge neck socket and 3 bolt micro tilt it was not uncommon for the neck to move during more exuberent stage movements (OK it was punk era) and just grabbing the neck and body horn and giving it a yank could re-align the neck (and get you back in tune) in a trice.

I remember it well )