Aligning the neck for drilling

[Matt Madden]

I could use some help on this one. I have a MIJ Squier bullet body to which I am going to attach a Guitar Fetish strat-style neck. This is a budget project

The neck fits in the neck pocket pretty well, but not super tight. I'm looking for advice on how to align it prior to drilling the screw holes. So far I am thinking a C-clamp against the neck plate with a caul over the fret board, then line it up with the bridge, and mark the hole locations through the holes in the body. Any tips on keeping things straight would be appreciated.

Matt

[Mark Swanson]

Clamp the neck in place as you said, but use a caul that will allow clearance at each side of the neck to run a tight string for alignment purposes. I use an elastic string, or a rubber band will work. Place it in each of the E string slots and make sure the neck is aligned as well as you can get it by stretching the string from the nut to the bridge.
Plug the holes in the neck with some good dowels. I like to drill the existing holes a little bigger, say 1/4". Then when the neck is in position, mark the new holes' positions with a punch sharpened to a point that fits snugly in the holes in the body to keep the marks accurate.

[Dan Rocha]

Clamp it as you described.
String up the E's and nudge until they are even.
Use transfer punch (or similar) to mark the neck for drilling locations.
Profit.

[Matt Madden]

Great, thanks.

Mark, it's a new neck on an old body, so no holes to fill. But I got you, otherwise.

[Mark Swanson]

Ok. One more thing that some folks miss- the screws are supposed to easily pass through the body, and only thread into the neck itself. If the screw threads are grabbing in the body as well, drill out the holes just enough to make them freely pass, or use smaller screws. Some folks miss this, and it can cause a bad fit between the body and neck and not allow the screws to pull the neck tight to the body.

[John Catto]

What Mark said. Body holes "just" bigger than the screws. Otherwise you can't develop any torque. Plus it's likely that ghe neck won't sit flat in the pocket.