Shaving down a Tele Neck

[The Rover]

Im in the process of building a Warmoth Tele. I just received the neck in the mail today and Im thinking the contour I ordered is a little too big for me.

I ordered the Boatneck option because that, along with the "Fatback" and "Standard thin", are the only options that don't cost extra and I prefer fatter necks to thinner ones. The Boat is just a bit too big though, like I said.

How much can I safely shave off the skunk stripe without compromising the stability of the neck? I don't want to take off a lot, maybe 3mm. Just enough to round it off more so it doesnt have such a big "peak". I will have to sand directly on the skunk stripe.

Also, is there any special tools I could use and what sandpaper grit should I use for this? I was thinking like 220. Thanks.

[WRGKMC]

3mm should be OK. I don't normally advise sanding too much because it weakens the neck and you can wind up with a tuning nightmare. I have one strat neck I took down a little and I really should have left it alone. Its never been the same since it was done and it suffers from being overly flexible. I can bend notes a bit too much pushing the neck forward or pulling it back. Having a little of that is normal and actually helps when you need to pull some notes back into tune playing live. When you have too much its like trying to tune a guitar with a floating whammy bar. Tune one string up and others go flat, tune another down and the others go sharp.

My best advice is buy the proper neck that fits your hand from the start. This is not only better for the instrument, its better for your hand. You can destroy a players left hand with a neck too large or too small. If its too large he fights being able to play the notes too much and over compensates all the time. Too small and he overworks the finger and hand joints by having all that stress on the back of the hand. Its like walking around in shoes too large or too small. Both have their issues and you can't beat having the proper fit when it comes to long hours of playing.