Attaching the neck

[ClassicalJoe]

Hey for christmas I recieved an ebay kit to build your own guitar. I recently got the time to start putting it together, Its painted and stained and almost ready to be put together. The neck does not have any holes or hardware to put it together, It looks like I am supposed to glue it. Will Glue be strong enough? or should I put bolts in, its an electric.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solid-Body-D...-/111201367226

That is the kit, how do I go about installing the neck and making sure it is set right?

Thanks, any help is beneficial.

[KingCavalier]

Nice kit! It looks like a "set-in" neck, that means they expect you to glue it in
Any good wood glue will work, Titebond etc.

Truth is it's your Guitar and you can do whatever you want.
Try not to take it too seriously, have some fun with it.

Be careful though, it's a very addicting craft and this might not be you last one

SA

[ClassicalJoe]

The tension from the strings wont slowly pull it out? so If I just use any wood glue and clamp it will it be fine for years? And after glueing it in with a clamp would it be properly set? Also how long should I leave the clamp on to let it dry.

Sorry for all the questions, Im new to the building guitar thing lol, After I do this the wiring is my next challenge

[Alan Carruth]

A lot depends on how the joint was designed and cut. I would not trust some solid body neck joints to stay put if they were glued, even if they were cut perfectly, and the best design can be rendered inoperable by poor execution. I'm surprised there were no instructions to tell you how it was meant to go together. FWIW, the joint in the picture looks like it would be fine to glue if it fits well.

[ClassicalJoe]

Thanks, I guess I will just go ahead and glue it and hope for the best.

[arie]

Originally Posted by ClassicalJoe

Hey for christmas I recieved an ebay kit to build your own guitar. I recently got the time to start putting it together, Its painted and stained and almost ready to be put together. The neck does not have any holes or hardware to put it together, It looks like I am supposed to glue it. Will Glue be strong enough? or should I put bolts in, its an electric.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Solid-Body-D...-/111201367226

That is the kit, how do I go about installing the neck and making sure it is set right?

Thanks, any help is beneficial.

glue: i'd go with titebond original and i hope that pocket is machined well. titebond and hhg are the glues of choice for modern guitar manufacture but hhg takes skill to use. go with the titebond. neck tension is lower on a short scale electric vs. a 25.0"+ scale acoustic strung up with 13's.

neck angle: electrics are more forgiving in this area. i would install the bridge and the stop bar threaded inserts, and attach the elevation wheels and threaded studs for the bridge. install the retainer studs for the stop bar. install tuners for both treble e and bass e. lay the neck into the pocket and attach fretboard and nut. clamp the neck assembly to the body and install both e strings.

tighten up the strings but they don't have to be to pitch, and rough set a desired action. don't worry about neck relief and intonation at this point. don't try to set a final action at this point either, just a crude alignment. check for side to side alignment as well. you don't want the strings falling off the fretboard. les paul style electrics are pretty forgiving with neck angle adjustments, but are more intolerant of side to side errors.

if you can dial in what you want and if things don't look ridiculous at this point, then tear down and move on with the project. if it looks like things have absolutely no room for adjustment or something is grossly wrong, stop and try to figure out why.

a couple of things i noticed about the kit picture. it doesn't show the bridge and stop bar hardware. i hope it came with it. if not, they are readily available. also the interior portion of the cutaway on a les paul is feathered into the side of the fretboard after assembly. meaning that there is no step where fretboard meets the body in the cutaway area. where the heel tapers down towards the back there is of course a small step, but not at the fretboard edge. i think i noticed a bit of extra wood in this area in your picture suggesting that they left you material to do so with but i could be seeing things wrong. les pauls are usually finished with the neck on.

the fretboard should have some means of registering it to the neck shaft to keep if from moving when you glue it down. usually in the form of tiny pins or spikes -one at either end. if not, then you'll have to keep it from swimming about when you glue things together. remember to keep glue out of the truss rod slot. apply some dry lubricant the the threaded portions of your truss rod, and under the adjustment nut where it meets the washer. graphite or teflon will do fine. this will keep things from getting stuck years down the road and now is the best time to do so.

[LouieAtienza]

Gibson has been gluing their set neck joints for ages; I never saw a Les Paul with a neck joint that simply failed, at least personally and I have handled quite a few. PRS and Hamer use a similar joint for their necks. As others say, as long as the fit is good you are fine.

[B. Howard]

Typically those necks are fitted and glued prior to finishing. The last kit I set a neck on for someone needed a lot of shaving and adjustment to get it to fit properly including re-working the face of the neck joint where it met the body.