repairing an electric guitar body

[Barry Catlin]

Hi retied carpenter joiner with wood machine know how - here
i have a encore blaster in need of a re-fur'bish
its just a thought but has any one ever reduced the size of the neck
to make it more ( short finger ) player friendly.
if so how much would it be practical to remove considering the load / stress
when the strings are on.
or am i "nuts" to even think of doing it.
I would appreciate any input thanks

[Chris Reed]

Shorter neck = different fret spacing (i.e. replace fretboard), probably different tuning (unless you can find strings for the shorter scale), maybe moving the bridge, shortening the truss rod (if there is one).

Apart from that ...

Edit Did you mean to make the neck thinner front to back? That might be doable, but you have to stop well before you hit the truss rod (hidden inside the neck, but where?).

If you want to reduce it side-to-side that wouldn't cause structural problems, though it would look odd.

[Alain Lambert]

The published specs for this guitar is 43mm (1" 11/16) neck width and 34 mm ( 1" 7/16) string spacing, which is OK to me.
The scale length is 25.5 ".
You may be able to change a little bit the neck profile at the back to make it more comfortable, but that's about it. Like Chris mentionned, you should be sure not to hit the truss rod channel, this link: http://www.google.ca/search?q=fender+ne ... 76&bih=926 will give you some examples. If you do it, try not to touch the thick ness of the neck, so you do not hit the truss rod pocket.

[Clay Schaeffer]

If it is a bolt on neck you might consider making an entirely new neck for it. This would allow you to change the scale length and neck width/thickness with less trouble than modifying the old neck.

[Barry Catlin]

HI Chris and Alain

Just to say thanks for your input

chris i did mean make it thinner if the truss rod will allow
or even run a small flute mould down both sides,
will let you know the results of my project

barry

ps thanks for the link