Badly joined neck

[Lord Blakers]

I bought a Wesley Sweetleaf (a very cheap, cr@p PRS clone) from Ebay a few years back. Never touched the thing, mainly because it would never stay in tune - although, strangely, it sounded pretty good even with the less than mediocre pickups.

So I've completely stripped it down with intentions on refinishing it and installing some decent hardware (and probably a MM or PK set).

The problem I have is, when looking over the bridge down the neck, it's quite apparent that the neck hasn't been mounted straight. It actually angles to the right about 3-5 degrees.

What potential problems could this cause? Would it be worth having the neck set correctly, or would I perhaps get away with ignoring the problem?

[FernandoDuarte]

It's angled to the back of the guitar or to the side of the guitar?

Angles to the back are absolutely comum... 3-5 degree is the usual Les Paul angle...

[Lord Blakers]

Unfortunately, it's to the side  :(

[FernandoDuarte]

Then it's a cr@p/creepy kind of problem  :(

I believe it could be solved, but not sure if it would worth... would not be very cheap...

[AndyR]

My Epi Les Paul has the same problem - it looks somewhat wonky but only when you know the problem's there. It really put me off the guitar for a while when I first noticed (some years after acquiring it  :roll: ).

However, it plays fine, tunes and intonates OK, sounds good, etc, etc... My biggest  niggle was the neck pickup polepiecess not lining up with the strings 100%. But that was cosmetic really, I couldn't hear a big tone problem over it, and it went away when I installed pups without covers - they line up almost perfect.

As it's a cheapy, if yours can do the above (play, tune, etc), I'd say don't mess with it.

[Philly Q]

Do the strings line up properly on the neck and can you set the intonation correctly?  If they're OK, I'd leave it as it is - resetting the neck to the "correct" position will only make matters worse.

And how cheap is very cheap?  Resetting the neck would probably cost more than the guitar did.

[ToneMonkey]

Is it a set neck or a bolt on?  If it's a bolt on you could plug the holes in the neck and use some vaneer in the neck pocket to pack it out.  Clamp it up and redrill it.  If it's a set neck, then I'm with PhillyQ  :D

[Philly Q]

Is it a set neck or a bolt on?  If it's a bolt on you could plug the holes in the neck and use some vaneer in the neck pocket to pack it out.  Clamp it up and redrill it.  

I've just been doing that with my Tele - the neck and body had been misaligned by some dolt at Fender, then really incompetently "corrected", so the holes in the neck were all chewed up and stripped.

So I've plugged, redrilled and used some threaded steel inserts in the neck.  Bit nerve-racking trying to drill the holes exactly right, but it's turned out well.  :)

[Lord Blakers]

Thanks for the tips guys.
I'll get the hardware back on, restring it and check tuning/intonation again before I do anything else with it.

It's a set neck, and it cost £90 - so may not be worth the expense of having it fixed. But the body is quite good, the neck has a nice feel and the upper fret access is excellent so I figure it has some potential to be a great guitar.

[FernandoDuarte]

And how cheap is very cheap?  Resetting the neck would probably cost more than the guitar did.

Hummm I quite an ogre, it was my try to say in a sensible way to say: "probably the fix will cost 4 times the guitar"  :lol:

You're right monkey, even don't knowing exactly the prices in UK, I assume that would be way more than £90, as a nut cost about £100 to be made...