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My Strat is a Deluxe Plus from '95 and it has a four bolt neck with a small hole in the neckplate. I assume it's for adjusting the tilt of the neck, how does this work? I've never seen it disassembled. If I wanted to replace the body with a Warmoth will any Strat body work? Basically I'm wondering what's going on in there...

The old Micro-Tilt 3 bolt design (or I should say Fender's application of that design) flat out sucked. I had a 72 Tele Custom (Keith Richards' style) that the neck joint was so unstable even playing forcefully would knock it out of tune. The good thing was you could move the neck the other way and pop it right back.

Gamp;L actually did production of that design good. I've got a 3 bolt L-2000 that is as solid as my 4 bolt Jazz- maybe even more solid. FWIW, Fender did it so badly the first time around that Gamp;L changed their design because of the stigma surrounding the stability of the 3 bolt neck design.

Do a Google Image search for micro tilt and you'll come up with some neat results- among them:The micro-tilt basically adusts the tilt of the neck without the need of shims or removing the neck at all. Yes, you can put the neck on a Warmoth body but you may need to drill the hole out in the neck cavity for the adjustment. Warmoth may do it for you, just ask.

I think they were an unessessary addition. The only way a bolt-on guitar sounds good is to have 100% wood/wood contact at the heel. This device just puts air in that space, so what good is it??? I tried using it a couple times, and it just killed the resonance and sustain of the guitar, so now I keep them loose, then tighten the 4 bolts, then tighten the microtilt bolt just enough so it doesn't rattle. Fender bodies and necks were designed to fit together, so there's no need to mess with it.

If you change necks, there's no issues, other than the existence of the hole in the neckplate, which doesn't matter.


Originally Posted by GearjoneserI think they were an unessessary addition. The only way a bolt-on guitar sounds good is to have 100% wood/wood contact at the heel. This device just puts air in that space, so what good is it??? I tried using it a couple times, and it just killed the resonance and sustain of the guitar, so now I keep them loose, then tighten the 4 bolts, then tighten the microtilt bolt just enough so it doesn't rattle. Fender bodies and necks were designed to fit together, so there's no need to mess with it.

If you change necks, there's no issues, other than the existence of the hole in the neckplate, which doesn't matter.

I've got to disagree with you on that one. I love the microtilt (4 bolt design of course) It really helps you tweak youre strat to its optimum playing potential. Neither my tele or strat have ever had sustain problems, of course it is very likely that I tighten my screws tighter than others might dare?

Luke

the only one of my strats that i actually use the micro tilt on is the one with a top mounted (non-recessed) floyd rose. since the bridge sits a bit high the neck needs to tilt back a tiny bit and it works wonders for doing that and not needing a shim. otherwise, i never use it on my other strats that have it.

-Mike

Im gonna side with GJ on this...micro tilt is in the top 10 bad ideas Fender has ever had...

Cool guys. I just won an American Strat body on ebay. It has the Micro Tilt anyway, but the info is good to know.