Depth of the neck at the heel

[Stefano]

Good morning:

 

I have a Squire Strato and I want to change the neck. I have bought a maple neck from China with these characteristics:

 

• Scale Length: 25-1/2"
• Tuning Holes: 10mm
• Heel Depth: 20mm / 26mm with Fingerboard
• Width at Nut: 42mm
• Heel Width: 56mm
• Frets: 21 Frets,High Quality

 

Unfortunately I've discovered that the depth of the neck at the heel - maybe - it's too much. So... my question: is there a limit for the depth of the heel? How much - maximum - can the neck stands out from the body of the guitar?

 

Thank you for your time and for your help.

Stefano

[Russell Vance]

Hi Stefano,a bit less than one quarter of an inch (6.5mm) seems to be an average sort of maximum height.  But, it really depends on how much adjustment you can get out of the bridge saddles as to how high a neck the guitar will stand.  A lot of cheaper strat copies seem to be coming out with shallow (not deep enough) neck pockets to accommodate thinner necks I guess.  At a pinch you can raise the bridge height along with the saddle height if you have no alternative. 

Regards, Rusty.

[Jeff Highland]

A standard stratocaster neck is 1" deep at the heel and the standard pocket is 5/8"

These translate to 25.4mm and 15.8mm

So the neck you have appears to be standard spec.

If the neck pocket on your body is not standard depth and the bridge cannot accommodate the increased height, you have a couple of alternatives including routing the pocket deeper or shimming at the headstock end of the pocket.

[Stefano]

and if i wanted to route the pocket in order to make it deeper which items may I use for doing a perfect work?

[Jeff Highland]

That would be a router and a pattern bit(with a bearing between the cutting section and the shaft)

But if you need to ask, you probably don't have the experience to be able to do it without making a big mess.

Routers are hungry beasts and chipping of the finish is inevitable unless you cut through it first.

Alternatively you could use a drill press with depth stop to cut multiple small holes down to depth and clean up with a chisel.

Try Russell's suggestion on raising the bridge first.

[Stefano]

Ok. Thank you!