How To Setup A Fender Telecaster Part 2 (Teardown and Neck Adjustment)

Transcript

Tools

String winder, side cutters, strings. We are going to need the appropriate size flat blade screwdriver. A couple of them small. That’s the 3/16″ this one is 5/16″ I believe. That should suffice. For some of our larger screws and things like that I will also grab a larger one. The set screws at the bridge, they’re also slots. Everything on this thing is slots, pretty true to form really.

Anyway, on with the show.

Removing the Old Strings

I’ll be up and down and around the instrument whatnot, so we’re going to have at it first by dumping our strings.

I’ve never had a problem with taking off all the strings on an instrument. Unless there’s something, say in a floating system where you know the tension on the instrument is key. I always say batch your processes. Give this thing a haircut all at once. Here we push that all through.

By the way, if you’re ever doing any electronics on a Tele and you have to work with the bridge bridge pickup, you should take the strings off because trying to do that with the bridge pickup still in there is a nightmare!

I just noticed that we have a bushing or a ferule that came out as well, we will tackle that, getting that bad boy back in place. It’s not uncommon to see those things fall out due to shrinkage. Wood is a natural thing that will expand and contract with the amount of moisture in the air and that’s what can happen.

You notice that I wrap all the loose ends and then throw all that in the garbage, it goes all in one lump.

Okay, just quickly, I’m just going to put a tiny little drop of glue on this. Put it this way, if I ever wanted to get this thing out, I want to be able to do so with a minimum of damage or effort. I certainly don’t want to have any glue or anything kicking around the instrument.

There we go. So I just put a little bit of this is a crazy glue gel which will both fill the void. I put a little bit around there off to one side just to to stop it from from popping out again. I could use carpenter’s glue or Titebond, anything that’ll fill that void and and keep things organized. Anytime you have to use glues use your judgment that too much is obviously a problem, too little is is just as bad. You don’t want things squeezing out and creating a problem.

Removing the Neck

First thing I’m going to do, I’m going to get the neck off. We’ll have a peek at what’s going on there. I’m being very very careful with the screwdriver. I held it in the position where I could crack the screws. I was comfortable with that now it’s just starting to give here, so I’m going to do is carefully take the rest of this out by hand. If they’re a little tighter you can put something on your workspace and put the thing flat down just so you’re comfortable with that. The interesting part’s coming, trust me. So that’s gonna go back on the same way.

This is coming apart pretty cool, I’m not forcing anything. The body date says October 28th, 2008. It’s a reddish stamp, looks like an eight yeah 2008 number 18354. So there’s that.

The neck date November 24th, 2008 so these are within a couple days of each other. That’s pretty awesome. There’s a scan code on the back of that. That sticker there, that’s probably about three or four thou thick, but I would really prefer to not have that there, just call me crazy. If it wasn’t there I’d be happier about the contact between the the neck and the body simple as that.

Inspecting the Neck

The frets themselves look like they’re in really good shape. They’re just going to need a real quick, most basic polish and they should be fine. Now, as far as adjusting the neck goes, the end adjuster here is flush with the end of the neck which is good. That means it’s not over-compressed, it’s not sticking out causing a problem. There’s a little recess here from milling. Using a flat screwdriver is still the best way to go with these things, that’s what’s recommended.

Adjusting the Neck

Now in my mind, I’m referring back to the image I kept for the relief. I’m going to make a little judgment here as to how stiff the neck is. Just turning the adjuster back then to its original spot. I kept a note of that. I’m still seeing a little bit of relief in the neck. Now I’m giving that about, I wouldn’t say a quarter turn, something more than a quarter turn and not a half turn so interpret that whichever way you want.

Now I have a little bit of a back bow so I’m interpreting the pressure, I’m feeling it’s not necessarily as free to adjust as I would like it. I’ve had vintage instruments here which are just like butter they’re awesome. They were so well made, things are just not necessarily the same as they were. Anyway, the adjuster’s where I want it to be. Taking a straight edge here, I don’t see any rocking or anything, and still a little bit of relief on. This is just a regular old 12 inch ruler that I use around the necks.

The neck is almost dead straight which is not bad, but once once we get the strings on that may change. It’s gonna induce a little bit more deflection or relief as it were, so I’m going to give that just a tiny little crack to anticipate the pull of the strings. Does that make sense?

I’m anticipating compression a bit. I’m not going to put it under too much of a microscope because by the time we get the guitar back together and get it tuned up to pitch, it’s normal to have to take the neck off and make another small adjustment under the new situation.

So that’s done for moment, for all intents and purposes.

Reattaching the Neck

Here’s the trick, I’m going to get my neck plate situated. I’ve got one screw and I’m going to turn in there just to get the neck to hang on. Then I’ll put another screw in there.

I’m only going to put in two screws. If I have to take the neck off again, having only two screws will save me some time. And the two screws will certainly be enough to hold the neck rigid and give me some proper reads and stuff like that. I’ve never ever ever had an issue with just using the two screws, it’s a way of expediting things. I’ve never had to go back because I didn’t have all four screws in there, that kind of thing.

Anyway we’re going to take a short break and we’ll get back at it. We’re going to do a little bit of housekeeping here. It’s actually in pretty good shape so we’ll have at it in one sec.

And I’ll be back.