Mod Garage Guitar Makeover: Neck-Pocket Cleanup and DIY Routing

Our next step will be to take care of the neck pocket, which is a very important and crucial task. This is the contact point of the body and the neck, so we want a tight, precise connection for maximum tuning stability and playing comfort.

I don’t know if it’s the same on all Harley Benton T-styles, but the fitting accuracy of the Harley Benton’s neck and neck pocket is perfect—I wish I saw this kind of quality on guitars which cost more than 10 times the price of this one! No need to modify our neck pocket by gluing in some wooden veneer to make it tighter; we can leave it just the way it is.

While the fitting is commendable, unfortunately the craftsmanship of the neck pocket itself is not that good. Besides wooden debris and chips, there’s a lot of “stuff” inside that I can’t identify for certain, but it’s likely some grain filler and clear coat. We’ll need to remove a fair amount from the neck pocket to ensure the heel of the neck has a completely level surface for installation.