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R&I of Epi. LP Junior Neck ......Any Precautions?


BlueEpiphone

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I have a new Epi. LP Junior which I'm pretty sure is NOT equipped with a mahogany body NOR mahogany neck. I'm painting the body and I would like to remove the neck instead of masking around it. Here's the problem: the neck setup is perfect (for me, at least) and I would hate to see it turn into a neck shim or truss rod experiment. I realize anything can go wrong but is a neck remove and re-install on these Epi. Jr.'s fairly routine? I would hate to see make-shift newspaper wedges or watch springs popping out of the neck pocket.

Thanks

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i cant speak for the juniors but i have a les paul special 2 that ive had to remove the neck to re finish it and it was just the neck pocket the 4 screws and neck plate. nothing came out but thats the special 2 ive had no experience with the juniors.

 

Your guitar looks great. I've removed my Squier Strat neck without any issues as well. Ideally, the best guitar to practice set-up adjustments would be any guitar that NEEDS adjustments. I'm getting better at not "adjusting" everything I own.

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I recently(ish) bought a plywood LP Jr from another member here (Swoop) and had him ship it to me disassembled. Soon as I got it home, I screwed the neck back on and the setup was perfect. I'd say they stand up to it pretty well. [thumbup]

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^^ What Sjael said.

Its fairly routine. There may or may not be a shim in the pocket, so be careful when taking the neck off. Sometimes the shims Epiphone uses are pretty tiny and you may not notice it fall out if you are not careful. On the other hand, there may be no shim at all. It really depends on the guitar and who assembled it.

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You'll have better results and an easier paint if you remove the neck. I've done it several times on different juniors with no ill effects. In fact, you may find a shim in there or some paint, tape, or other schmutz that should be removed for a tighter fit. Any minor change to the neck angle can easily be offset by adjusting the bridge post heights. You might even be able to improve the action if you're comfortable filing the nut a bit.

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Any minor change to the neck angle can easily be offset by adjusting the bridge post heights.

 

I mostly agree with this, except for one situation. If there IS a shim in there - or schmutz or whatever - and you decide to go shimmless or clean it out, when you put the neck back in, look at the side of the neck pocket and make sure the neck is even with the pocket or slightly higher at the bottom. If the bottom of the neck pocket is lower than the top, you will need to put that shim back in.

 

The pic below (relatively) shows what I'm talking about. It doesnt show the neck being too low in the pocket, but it was the best I could find. Also, the two pics at the bottom are exaggerated, but show the basic concept.

 

 

NeckAngle.JPG

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OK, but this is a wraparound (one piece) bridge guitar.

 

Typically, there's so much play up or down in the oversized Jr. bridge posts that you can offset for several degrees of neck angle one way or the other.

 

So far, I've removed shims and schmutz in 3 of the 5 and I've had and it was no problem and it made for a much tighter and more solid neck/body connection.

 

Actually, that's 3 or the 4 with bolt-on necks - the 5th one has a set neck.

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I didnt realize you could compensate in that direction. It doesnt make much sense in my head, but you know more about this than I, so I'll trust your judgement.

 

I always tend to run out of adjustment before being able to compensate in that direction, but I'll admit that its never been with a stop/tail config.

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Thank-you guys for the advice.

I did discover a"shim": two pieces of paper. I kept them just in case. I shall clean up that pocket and try a clean fit first to increase that wood-wood contact. I did observe what looks like plenty of stopbar height adjustment in both directions. I was glad that I wont be required to mess with the truss rod adjustment. Like I said, I'm willing to add that to the list of DIY tasks, but not soon.

Let's hope I don't allow the bad taste/poor planning demons to attack this paint job. I will post pic's soon. Thanks again!

PurpleEpiphone

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