Taking off neck to check out various pickups....

[coyoteblue]

I recently bought a strat and want to try out different pickups, but don't want to replace the strings every time I do. I can capo the first fret and take off the neck to make things easy, and save my strings. Is this ok to do? Is there a potential problem of weakening the connection to the body by repeated removal? I may remove the neck 3-4 times altogether. This is a strat that has a truss rod at the bottom of the neck so I'd have to take it off at other times if I wanted to adjust truss rod tension.

[suttree]

just be careful not to cross thread the screws, and tighten the neck down very snug, and you'll be fine. ol' Leo Fender was an engineer, and that guitar is purpose built to have the neck taken off. the capo trick is the way to go..

[coyoteblue]

Thanks for the feedback. What do you mean by crossthreading? If I unscrew counterclockwise and screw in clockwise, how can I go wrong? That said, when I adjusted the truss rod, the only time I've taken the neck off so far, I did notice that one of the screws doesn't grab as firmly as the other three. Is this the result of crossthreading?

[suttree]

by crossthreading, i mean make sure you're on the same screw pattern, don't just jam it in and start turning th escrewdreiver, make sure you're lined up correctly. the less grab on the one screw is more likely just wear, or sloppy drilling, but as long as it pulls the neck into the pocket securely, it's fine