Why would neck holes need to be re-drilled?

[Jono Bolton]

Hopefully someone can help me out with something I'm struggling to get my head around. I bought a P Bass body recently and went to fit the neck I'm using (Squier SQ Precision). I put all the neck screws in place and when I turned it over, the heel of the neck was about 2-3mm away from the end of the pocket. I took the screws out and moved it back and it's a nice, tight fit, so the holes in the heel of the neck will need to be filled and redrilled. The neck had previously been on another body (Squier CV) and everything lined up correctly when I put it together.

 

Similarly, last week I was doing a bit of experimentation and swapped around the necks of my basses. The necks of my SQ/CV and my Matt Freeman Precision were interchangeable, but the holes in the pocket of my JV Precision were miles away from the holes in the heels of the SQ and MF. 

 

I know that I'm swapping different necks from different models, but I wouldn't have thought that there would be such a difference in the position of the holes in the heels and the pockets. In my mind, the SQ neck would be sitting further back in the new body than it was in the CV, and in turn would impact the scale length and the intonation. Is just a case of the screw holes in the neck pocket of the new body have been drilled slightly too far forward? Am I overthinking it because I'm annoyed that it's not a direct fit?

[Velarian]

I’ve just discovered that the holes on a neck I’m matching to a new body are a couple of mils out and will have to plug and redrill. The neck itself fits the pocket exactly though which is a good thing.

 

In both cases they’re designed to be direct replacements for the original parts but I guess these things are not made to exacting tolerances and even Fender models from different factories will be a little different.

 

Presumably a few mils or so change to the scale length is still within the tolerance of the adjustment available with the bridge saddles?

[Jono Bolton]

3 minutes ago, Velarian said:

Presumably a few mils or so change to the scale length is still within the tolerance of the adjustment available with the bridge saddles?

 

Yep, after posting and the initial disappointment subsiding, it occurred to me that the bridge should hopefully cover any difference in the position of the neck. The neck could also be the same position on both bodies, but the screw holes in the pocket are in different positions, so the scale isn't actually affected. The existing screw holes in the heel are stripped slightly so having them filled and new ones drilled is probably a sound idea.

[adamg67]

Assuming both necks are the same number of frets and scale length I would use the distance between the neck heel and the last fret on the 2 necks to tell if the scale length will be right. If it's the same then if you seat it at the end of the pocket it should be  the same overall. If it's different then you need some adjustment at the bridge.

[Downunderwonder]

On 24/08/2021 at 22:34, adamg67 said:

Assuming both necks are the same number of frets and scale length I would use the distance between the neck heel and the last fret on the 2 necks to tell if the scale length will be right. If it's the same then if you seat it at the end of the pocket it should be  the same overall. If it's different then you need some adjustment at the bridge.

Might be the only one in this thread qualified to wield a drill or saw.