*FLATTEN or DEEPEN the Neck Pocket* - Custom Baseplate for Stewmac Plunge Router Base

A custom baseplate I designed for the Stewmac Plunge Router Base. Using it with my Dremel 4300 and an Amana Tool 47223-S router bit. I'm using this these days instead of the Stewmac Soundhole Routing Jig, which I used for flattening neck pockets for years.
The main goal is to keep solid contact with the top of the guitar in order to keep the router flush. Be very, very careful if you decide to do this. But sometimes you have to. It really can make the difference between a guitar not working, not playing well, and not sounding good, to being a winner.
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Inquiries (custom pickguards, handwound pickups, and more): send me an e-mail: [e-mail]
My eBay store with Handwound Pickups and more:
www.ebay.com/u...
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[@jayl9127]

This is the best guitar neck pocket work video I could find on KZbin. Thank you for sharing❤

[@guitar_md]

Thanks so much for the compliment. I really appreciate it. This is the kind of stuff that keeps me motivated to keep creating!

[@natepence]

Ha, it was THAT EXACT BODY that brought me to this video.

[@RickFoxx777]

Great video! I came upon this vid. by accident...I had been looking high and low for something like this for a month to no avail. I to bought a body from Guitar Fetish (lido) and the neck pocket was way to shallow. As per all the available info on the net save this one...I chiseled and sanded for weeks and to date, it is still too shallow. I new at this point I might have to get a router, so I looked and looked for a good router and just by chance I found this vid. Thank god I already have a Dremel, so all would I need is this bit. Thank you for taking the time to do this vid, I only wish it had popped up on my original searches. Just my 2 cents worth. Peace.

[@guitar_md]

Thanks so much! This made my day. Really glad this video was so much of a help to you. Let me know how it goes!

[@harrydebusk7639]

Man this is awesome. Your videos are probably the best How to on KZbin.

[@guitar_md]

That means so much to me. Thank you!

[@harrydebusk7639]

@@guitar_md I have the StewMac Dremel thing and have never used it, but you've shown me a good way to do that . Also, i wish your channel would get more views. I've posted it around. Your approach to the work is really great, different from the other channels I've seen. It's just... better.

[@bulletproofzest]

Great vid! I’m gonna do this on my new partscaster. It’s only a few thousandths from flat so I was able to set it up, but it did require a shim to get the neck angle right, and I’d rather just have it right at the source.

[@davidmoss7245]

absolutely fantastic video thanks very much for sharing.Perfectly made ,edited and spoken

[@guitar_md]

Thank you so much for the support!

[@ZadorkinAA]

Thanks for shearing your experience! This is unique content.

[@maxammo6282]

Oh yeah this is good stuff right here man. Thanks for sharing your knowledge brother.

[@kevingplumb]

Great video, thank you so much. I abandoned a telecaster build because the neck pocket was too shallow and I wasn't sure what to do about it. My first thought was to reduce the thickness of the neck but I was nervous about doing that. So I arrived at increasing the neck pocket depth but I was going to use a regular sized router but I was unsure about that as well. I was not aware of the Stewmac router base so I just ordered one. I also have another build where the neck pocket is too shallow and the screws in the bridge are at their maximum height to make it playable, so I'll be able to fix that as well. Do you have a video about fret leveling with the Katana? I'd be very interested to see that.

[@guitar_md]

Thanks so much! Working on so many new videos. As far as the Katana goes, I mostly use the RM Lite, which is simply a straight understring leveling tool. I get the neck straight with the guitar flat on its back, face up on the bench, mostly using a digital neck relief gauge. Then level. It's dead simple. I do have some more advanced techniques to help with the high E string choking out. I also think carbon fiber is the best material for understring leveling, though getting it perfectly level may be tricky. I use Dragonplate Carbon Fiber 1" ibeam. It's very expensive so the RM Lite is really the most affordable option though. The RM Lite is also .475" wide. I've become a fan of narrower leveling tools as they're better for following the string paths. Too wide of a leveling surface and you can't follow the string paths that accurately. I might even go to .450" width if I could but .475" is definitely the best width currently available. When you level under string tension, the strings act as "bowling alley bumpers" that guide you. It's easy and intuitive to level along the string paths when leveling under string tension using the RM Lite tool. The Stewmac Fretbars are very heavy. I think they're actually better suited for use as a regular strings-off leveler for leveling along the string paths. I think they're too thick and heavy for comfortable understring leveling but that's just me. For the High E choking out: don't level at all under the High E string. Level under B and G. The goal is to preserve the highest saddle height possible for the High E, which means not lowering the fret tops under the High E, and then lowering the fret heights where the High E will be when bent -- under the B and G strings. It's like a pseudo compound radius of sorts. You're actually profiling an offset trapezoid shape into the fret tops. But that's the general idea. You can take it farther and apply tape over the sandpaper on the RM Lite, so it doesn't level the first 3 or 4 frets, and levels fallaway from frets 4 or 5 to the end. I use Scotch tape which is about .001" thick. This is a powerful technique and I don't think anyone else uses it. Most people do fallaway from the 12th to the end. A very slight fallaway over most of the fret tops can help a lot and it's very minor when using Scotch tape. That technique can also be used on the Low strings to address stubborn buzzing. I'll cover all of this in a dedicated video eventually when I have time. I may go to a simpler filming style for some videos to accomplish this. The level of detail I normally use requires many hours of work to shoot and edit. I could cover a lot more ground occasionally recording videos where I basically just talk to a camera telling all the things I just told you here. Hope this tides you over in the meantime. I've developed a lot of techniques for fret leveling/profiling that nobody else is using, and that's a couple of them. Let me know if you have any questions.

[@kevingplumb]

@@guitar_md Thanks for the detailed reply to my question. You have given me a lot of food for thought. I don't have any fret leveling to do at the moment but when I do I will probably be asking some questions about your use of the Scotch tape technique which sounds very interesting.

[@stoneglad]

Thanks ! I have a new very expensive fender custom shop Strat and the neck pocket has a pretty big divot right around one of the screw holes. It looks like it’s a chisel that chunked out the divot, maybe they use a router and it was tilted like you mentioned in your video at that spot? First question, by having this divot / chip around the screw hole, it doesn’t allow for wood to wood contact in that corner, is this of any actual concern or does it lessen the integrity of the neck to body contact and thus the quality of the guitar and its playability, performance and sound quality? It definitely seems too deep to take down the rest of the pocket to be flush. I was wondering if either wood gluing a shallow stew Mac neck shim into it or filling it with wood putty or CA glue etc would make any difference or improvement, or just forget about it and leave it be ?? Would converting it to bolts be another option and would that create an improvement?

[@guitar_md]

I would fill the divot. Wood putty would be perfect, and easy. Wood putty dries extremely hard, harder than the original wood itself. It then can be filed flush with the rest of the pocket. Fortunately, I don't think divots are a big deal in that area. Filling is perfectly acceptable. What really matters is having solid wood-to-wood contact, or in this case, a wood to flat surface contact. The neck pocket just so happens to be made out of wood but a small divot filled with putty won't make any difference -- that is, it *may* make a difference by filling in the gap left by the divot, but the putty itself is not inferior to real wood in this case. Converting it to machine screws is an option, but I'm not sure how much difference it makes. I had another commenter link me to a video that showed screwing directly into the wood can be just as strong or even *stronger* than threaded inserts. For me, threaded inserts are more about the convenience of being able to take the neck off and put it back on a million times without worrying about wearing anything out. With proper clearance holes in the neck pocket and solid, snug screw holes, the stock sheet metal or wood screws should be fine for maximum wood-to-wood contact. I will emphasize though that clearance holes are absolutely critical. I have a video on the topic if you haven't seen it here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/bpmrqY15ltB0j7ssi=bzVhKHAUZMCOLncC Hope this helps! I also plan on making an updated version of this video. Potvin Guitars sells neck pocket templates that work phenomenally well. I personally mount them using dowels and double stick tape -- dowels to line them up over the bridge holes and tape as extra insurance. But it spans from the bridge all the way through the neck pocket. You gotta take all the hardware off is the only downside. But I recently used one on a Tele assembly. Saved me on it. The neck pocket was 1/8" too narrow and about 1/16" too thick. Was able to buzz it down quickly with that template. Could probably have gotten away with my Colt trim router but the Dremel is always safer and you can see what you're doing. Even though it's slower.

[@theguitarincharge7876]

Very Nice Tecnique Sir!

[@guitar_md]

Thank you!

[@bowfrog]

Great Video, Excellent thru and thru.

[@guitar_md]

Thanks so much!

[@HBSuccess]

Nice! But...(I know...but..) the rear corners of your handle sticking out unsupported bugs me, so I will re-design to support the entire handle, plus make it possible to use all 4 fasteners on the handle. 😅

[@guitar_md]

Good idea! I've even considered additionally using a flat template on the top of the guitar, as even with this base, I've had issues getting the rout perfectly level. As long as my ideas can act as a springboard for better ideas -- it's all good. Sometimes I do get lazy and if I were to redesign this baseplate, I'd probably make it more of a rectangle shape, and quite a bit bigger. Let me know how it goes! A bigger baseplate would certainly be a help. I may end up redesigning this one and making a new baseplate myself, only because I've had issues with this working perfectly, and I suspect a larger baseplate will help. I will keep you posted and will perhaps make another video if the re-design is successful. If I do so, I will mention your comment as the inspiration for it as well. Thanks again!

[@JordanHandwerker]

What if I don’t have a router jig for a Dremel😅 my Parts Jazzmaster neck sits super high

[@sdbracht]

Thanks for the great info ❤

[@guitar_md]

Absolutely. And thanks for the support!

[@letterli]

you should fix the protection piece of wood - THAT would make me nervous...;-) this shifting around....grrrghhh....

[@IScreamedWolf]

You ever consider selling that custom router base?

[@guitar_md]

Working on a listing for it now. I'll let you know when I get it listed on eBay. I've redesigned it to be larger, and using a thick dowel for a handle that can be attached upon delivery with a provided wood screw. I think it works much better than the one shown in this video. Bigger surface area, and way more of a grip. Potvin Guitars has neck pocket routing templates that are also awesome. The only issue is if they're not a perfect fit for *your* neck pocket, they may need to be routed out larger to accommodate it. With the base I'm using here, it doesn't matter, and you also don't have to remove the bridge to use it, like you do with the Potvin template. However, the Potvin template is dead accurate. You do have to be careful using my base. The bigger surface area on my new design however does work much better. I'll work on getting this up in my eBay store today

[@guitar_md]

Just listed it here: www.ebay.com/itm/326128347690 Appreciate the comment. I sold one of these a few months ago and then got distracted with other things and never re-listed it. Got my a$$ in gear for finalizing the design and getting it up there.

[@Tommyp65]

I went through the same problems with this guitar fetish XGP body, except mine was a telecaster and a hot mess. Take note>>>, these XGP bodies are not flat or routed for standard industry fender spect hardware or templates.

[@guitar_md]

Sounds like a true nightmare. Makes me wish I had a pin router. How'd you end up fixing it? Working on a Tele build for someone at the moment and ended up using a Potvin template to rout the neck pocket. Not only was it too thick, but the walls of the pocket were about 1/8" too narrow to accept a standard Fender neck. String ferrule holes were also too small for the ferrules, no bridge holes drilled, no wire cavity routed and drilled for the neck pickup, no strap button holes, pickguard doesn't fit, the jack cup hole is too small, the control section isn't routed properly to accommodate the control plate, and also no neck pocket holes drilled. It's been a lot of work so far, to say the least!

[@jamescopeland5358]

Cool

[@darrenhughes8106]

I have a new fender tele body that is awful. It is in the same situation as the video. Wished I could find someone to fix mine. I got so mad, I ordered myself a new tele. 😂 true story.

[@thelegitsu81]

Typical Guitar Fetish quality. Now I know why they don't let you leave a review on the product.