routing neck pocket for neck to sit deeper (UPDATE)

ok, so on my Charvl Satchel Sig I have been contemplating routing the neck pocket to be able to lower the neck. the Floyd sits high enough that it could stand to come down, and the gap under the fingerboard is annoying as hell. has anyone done such a thing on their own guitars or do y'all send it out to a luthier for the work ? the gap with the neck is very similar to the old American made run of charvel san dimas guitars. I was looking at warmoth and saw they offer a "720" mod which deepens the pocket, but wasn't sure if anyone here has tried it on their own. I bought this guitar for novelty, but it plays so damn good, and the neck feels amazing, which means that I am going to be throwing it into gig rotation soon. I have an EMG 81/60 coming to replace the pickups in it, and will be adding some stainless and brass accessories to the bridge as per my usual tweaks

anyways back on subject .... the neck pocket deepening ?? anyone who has done it or who has experience with the work ? any side effects. the total extra added depth looks to be around 1/8"-3/16" which isn't really much. basically just enough to get the fretboard sitting almost on the body

<<<Update on last post>>>

Technically it will increase the damping factor. I doubt it will be noticeable, but it could be. Consider that a slightly thicker neck can affect the sound. I have experienced that. The main thing is to make sure the screws aren't too long. If it does affect the sound in a way you don't like (depends on the body density & rigidity), you can add a ~1mm hard plastic plate to get sustain back -- probably more than you lost. I've done that on a few guitars, even cutting out the plastic inside the screws to increase coupling force and reduce body damping. The plate material matters. I've tried Stainless metal washers reduce high end damping, so it may sound more metallic than that guitar is designed to sound. I find Lexan or Acetal to be pretty "neutral' slightly increasing bass and high end extension without altering character. Seems crazy, but I made b4 and after recordings that show a consistent change across all pickups positions. I made a video showing what I did:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/ ... sp=sharing

Both guitars I did it too have great sustain and a fuller sound with no joint slippage after several years.

I believe GMW can do this...but I would send him the entire guitar. I would have to guess it would cost at least $200 to do the work.

That said, I’ve noticed most of the new Charvels have crazy high Floyd’s. I can’t stand that.

psychodave":20tod7ka said:

I believe GMW can do this...but I would send him the entire guitar. I would have to guess it would cost at least $200 to do the work.

That said, I’ve noticed most of the new Charvels have crazy high Floyd’s. I can’t stand that.

Click to expand...

Yeah, GMW does solid work. I’ve had him do tons of work for me on other guitars. The crazy high Floyd is what bugs me the most lol.

I usually just put a reverse shim in the neck pocket, worked perfectly on my Charvel and EVH guitars, it brings the floyd flush to the body, no routing necessary

Any reason other than the gap of the fingerboard shelf? You mentioned that the bridge can go down so you're no doing it for functionality.

scottosan":yfqklyfm said:

Any reason other than the gap of the fingerboard shelf? You mentioned that the bridge can go down so you're no doing it for functionality.

Click to expand...

The main reason is aesthetics. The bridge is supposed to be dive only, but with the height it is at, it actually floats, which I don’t like. A trem stop has fixed the floating aspect but it still looks goofy as hell with the bridge sitting so high, so I want to fix that

I’ve also just shimmed the neck on my Charvel for this. Just shim the far end of the neck pocket (away from the bridge). That will let you drop the bridge.

So I took yall’s advice and ordered a set of the Stew Mac shims. I didn’t like the idea of putting home made shims at the back of the neck and there being a gap, so I got the solid shims from them. Using the 1 degree shim, the bridge sits absolutely perfect to the body and the action is perfect. Lee @ GMW said he can route the pocket a minimal amount to be able to rid the guitar of the shim, but rather than spend all the cash in shipping back and fourth I am going to try and get my OCD to relax a bit and accept the shim. Functionally it is perfect, but aesthetically that shim drives me nuts lol.

MYLILSS":3lsp7c0h said:

So I took yall’s advice and ordered a set of the Stew Mac shims. I didn’t like the idea of putting home made shims at the back of the neck and there being a gap, so I got the solid shims from them. Using the 1 degree shim, the bridge sits absolutely perfect to the body and the action is perfect. Lee @ GMW said he can route the pocket a minimal amount to be able to rid the guitar of the shim, but rather than spend all the cash in shipping back and fourth I am going to try and get my OCD to relax a bit and accept the shim. Functionally it is perfect, but aesthetically that shim drives me nuts lol.

Click to expand...

dude you need to let the OCD sleep now .... OCD is the brains way of fucking with you (trust me I know). Just look at it as the shims work so the guitar is better. Remember your eyes can't hear tone or differences, but your ears do...so if your ears are saying it sounds good then it is good

sytharnia1560":3lqduzuc said:

MYLILSS":3lqduzuc said:

So I took yall’s advice and ordered a set of the Stew Mac shims. I didn’t like the idea of putting home made shims at the back of the neck and there being a gap, so I got the solid shims from them. Using the 1 degree shim, the bridge sits absolutely perfect to the body and the action is perfect. Lee @ GMW said he can route the pocket a minimal amount to be able to rid the guitar of the shim, but rather than spend all the cash in shipping back and fourth I am going to try and get my OCD to relax a bit and accept the shim. Functionally it is perfect, but aesthetically that shim drives me nuts lol.

Click to expand...

dude you need to let the OCD sleep now .... OCD is the brains way of fucking with you (trust me I know). Just look at it as the shims work so the guitar is better. Remember your eyes can't hear tone or differences, but your ears do...so if your ears are saying it sounds good then it is good

Click to expand...

you are definitely right. it sounds and plays damn good now, so I am going to my best to just let it be.

One thing I will say is the shims from stew mac are very good quality. I mean it is only shim, but having it be the same size as the neck pocket and one solid piece, just seems to make more sense to me since the neck is sitting flat against the body still instead of having space at one end or the other

MYLILSS":qjvpl2fv said:

So I took yall’s advice and ordered a set of the Stew Mac shims. I didn’t like the idea of putting home made shims at the back of the neck and there being a gap, so I got the solid shims from them. Using the 1 degree shim, the bridge sits absolutely perfect to the body and the action is perfect. Lee @ GMW said he can route the pocket a minimal amount to be able to rid the guitar of the shim, but rather than spend all the cash in shipping back and fourth I am going to try and get my OCD to relax a bit and accept the shim. Functionally it is perfect, but aesthetically that shim drives me nuts lol.

Click to expand...

Try to set that OCD aside and just play it. Of course that's easy for me to say. My guitars have frequently been an aesthetic mess.

My old Charvel didn't start life with a Floyd. When the vintage trem was replaced, the neck had to be shimmed to set up at all. It came back with a part of a cigarette pack as a shim. I've shimmed with picks many times, and later started using post-it notes: they stick in place until you get everything set which is nice compared to having the damn things fall out when you shift things around!