Finally got some time to work on my Partsrite last night. First I cut the string nut barrel, as described with pictures in the thread on "How to cut a string guide?" Then I started on the neck. The neck was 2/16" wider than the neck pocket. I decided to widen the neck pocket instead of trying to narrow the neck. My main concerned in this process were neck alignment and a tight neck pocket. Here are some pictures of the process:
First, the neck and pocket, showing the mismatch
Now, the pocket as I got it.
Pocket with some sanding. I used a hand rasp at first and then a wood block with sandpaper wrapped on the sides to try and maintain right angles.
The neck is starting to fit.
To try to align the neck, I put the middle and bridge pickups in their holes to have some idea where the bridge will end up.
Neck pocket finished. I oversanded a bit on the outer edge of the treble bout, but the pocket is still tight.
The neck had no screw holes, so I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up the alignment here. I used a straightedge to manage the alignment, eyeballing the space on the sides of the pickup poles on the treble and bass sides of the neck.
Just a glamour shot - this is going to look nice! Also, a point of warning - I had measured the neck to bridge clearance prior to this, with only the bridge pickup in place, and the clearance for the string scale was fine. As I was soon to learn, I should have measured with all the pickups in place.
It turns out that the proper neck alignment was acheived by resting the heel of the neck on the neck pickup ring, so I mounted the pickups to use as a guide when I drilled the holes for the neck screws.
Tada - neck screw holes! Note that the lower holes are pretty close to the bottom of the neck. Seemed strange to me, and probably was a good hint of what I would discover.
Here's the neck plate, which, it turns out, has different screw placement than the body! The holes on the body are spaced more closely from the treble to bass sides. I suspect the V3 may not have had a neck plate, or maybe a decorative one like on the early Ventures models. Curious.
OK, now the moment of truth - with all three pickups installed and the neck mounted, the bridge is too far back to set the scale intonation! What happened?!? If the neck is set all the way to the back of the neck pocket, the measurements are fine, but the neck pickup pushes the neck further from the body. Here's the neck up against the body with a pencil mark showing where the neck pickup hits it.
Now, finishing up for the night, I know I'm going to have to cut the end of the fretboard off to make clearance for the neck pickup. This means I'll also be drilling new neck holes, so I filled the previous holes with wood dowels and glued them.
As it turns out, I also misaligned the middle pickup, so I doweled and glued those holes too. My plan is to remount the middle pickup after I mount the bridge so I have a better chance of aligning it properly!
After gluing the neck and body dowels, I turned my attention to the vibrato. The vibrato string plate I have had a hole that's too small for the Hallmark arm I got, as can be seen here.
I widen the hole with a hand reamer and got the parts assembled.
So, what have I learned so far? Well, there's more to a Parts-rite than an assembly of parts. The neck misalignment makes me curious what the process for neck construction was - how did this neck get finished with a fretboard this long? Was it for a different model with different bridge placement? Or was there a next fitting and cutting process that this neck never got? What's up with the neck mounting screw hole placement on the body? What's up with the vibrato plate - what arm what that supposed to go with? Were these mistake parts, parts for alternate designs or parts that were in process?
Next up will be cutting the heel of the neck and re-drilling it. Then I'll mount the bridge. More pictures as it happens.
