attaching/aligning a replacement neck

[diablo175]

I'm putting a custom ordered replacement neck on a pimped superstrat guitar and I'm concerned about alignment and drilling- neck did not come pre-drilled. Any suggestions on how to ensure proper alignment and how to drill straight and not too deep?

[Jem]

How tight is it in the neck pocket and how well aligned was what was there previously ? If the previous neck was correct and the new one's reasonably tight then clamp it in place and use one of the neck screws to give you the hole position (just put it in and press, it'll leave you your mark). If your neck is sloppy to the point you're not sure it's central then use some card or whatever you have laying around to shim the neck to it's central position. As for depth i tend to put a pilot hole around 1/2 to 2/3 the depth of the screw - if you have access to a drill press this makes everything much easier. Also note that the screw holes in the body tend to be slightly oversize so there's always room for a little fine tuning of the alignment even after you've drilled.

[diablo175]

How tight is it in the neck pocket and how well aligned was what was there previously ? If the previous neck was correct and the new one's reasonably tight then clamp it in place and use one of the neck screws to give you the hole position (just put it in and press, it'll leave you your mark). If your neck is sloppy to the point you're not sure it's central then use some card or whatever you have laying around to shim the neck to it's central position. As for depth i tend to put a pilot hole around 1/2 to 2/3 the depth of the screw - if you have access to a drill press this makes everything much easier. Also note that the screw holes in the body tend to be slightly oversize so there's always room for a little fine tuning of the alignment even after you've drilled.

Mucho Gracias!

It's funny 'cuz the fit is uber tight, to the point where it started to crack the wall along the pocket. Guess I need to sand either the neck heel or the pocket walls down a little. But the previous neck was well aligned and the new one should be, too. I've been advised elsewhere to use string positioned in both low and high E string slots to check alignment of neck before drilling. Is this true?

[HAMERMAN]

If there is any slop then it also helps to have the high and low E strings strung up to make sure the neck is aligned parallel to the strings before you drill. That way when you go to string it up there are no surprises.

[Jem]

Mucho Gracias!

It's funny 'cuz the fit is uber tight, to the point where it started to crack the wall along the pocket. Guess I need to sand either the neck heel or the pocket walls down a little. But the previous neck was well aligned and the new one should be, too. I've been advised elsewhere to use string positioned in both low and high E string slots to check alignment of neck before drilling. Is this true?

Well if it's that tight then it's got to be in alignment because there's no room for it to go anywhere else

You can lay both E's on to check but chances are you are where you'll finish up now anyway.