Template - Neck Pocket

Perhaps the part of the build that I'd been dreading the most was cutting the neck pocket.  This seemed to be the most critical step of all (although all parts of the build entail some degree of criticality to be sure).  If the neck was not straight then the strings were going to be hanging off the side and at best if it still worked it would look funny.  If the pocket depth was not right, the action would be too high or too low or the saddles could not be raised enough to compensate.  If too far forward or back into the body, then the saddles cannot be adjusted enough to properly intonate the strings and produce a musical instrument of any value or purpose.

Oh, no big deal.  Is that all?
Well, every challenge has its time and meets its fate.  The Warmoth specs below helped provide the proper specs, as well as a clear confirmation that the strat neck would fit the telecaster body.

So with the pocket depth the same, the shape of the heel was going to be different.  This was also a knock-off neck, so all bets were off as to any other spec applied that I'd not yet accounted for.  Well, measure 10 times and cut once, right?  Fortunately the neck specs were quite accurate as it turned out.

I created a template according to the specs I needed.  But it did not work entirely as planned.  Unfortunately I'd set it up on a lengthwise piece of plywood which meant that the clamps did not sit where they would optimally hold the template to the body.  Carving the pocket with my router went fairly well, but it was not that easy; practice on a scrap piece of wood is critical.  Even then, the routing could have gone better.  I eventually made a new template that was wider and more easily clamped to the body before I re-cut the pocket depth.

First neck pocket template (not a good plan)

Jig for clamping template

When routing was completed, the pocket was narrow (which is good, as you can always widen it) and the length was perfect.  But the depth was too shallow.  Why?  Dozens of repeated measurements proved that it was not entirely level either.  Checking to the neck, I found that I could go another few mm deeper and so decided that I would (using the second template).  This provided a very smooth, flat surface (I realized later that the first template had flexed a little under the weight of the router, letting the router bit to dig fractions of a mm deeper in spots and make an imperfect pocket base; the second template design solved this issue).  Since the neck still measured a tad high, I made another pass with the router set deeper, then sanded the sides until the neck fit perfectly.  It was then set aside to complete the body finishing steps.