Official Luthiers Forum! :: View topic - Set Neck

Official Luthiers Forum! http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/

Set Neck http://mowrystrings.luthiersforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=10122&t=46156	Page 1 of 1

Author:	bhoover15 [ Mon Aug 10, 2015 8:50 pm ]
Post subject:	Set Neck
Hey everybody I'm building my second guitar Kit and this time I decided to tackle an es 335 style guitar with a long tenon style neck. I was wondering what all I needed to do or know to set it correctly. All help would be excellent! Thanks!

Author:	Cush [ Tue Aug 11, 2015 3:07 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Set Neck
Welcome to the forum. First find a way to clamp the neck in position. Once the neck is in place check the distance from nut to the bridge saddles which can be placed in position on the body temporarily . Hopefully you will find it measures slightly over 24.75" if that is the intended scale length. With a strait edge check the neck angle for alignment with the bridge and string height. The one I made came with a neck joint that was slightly off. I wanted a better neck so I made my own. To get a good fit you may need a shim or two. Be sure you have everything perfect before you glue the neck in. Gluing in the neck will be the most critical step in the build. The 335 kit I had was cut wrong with the neck joint placing the nut too close to the bridge by .25 ". So be sure to check for scale length. Most 24.75' scale length guitars have a low E string length of 24.9 or more. Post some pictures if you have some. Matt

Author:	Freeman [ Tue Aug 11, 2015 9:08 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Set Neck
I'm currently scratch building a 335 clone and basically you want to set the neck so that your fretted fretboard plane is as low as you will ever adjust your ToM. Here is the bridge on little blocks of wood that simulate the studs, the blue tape marks the scale length (I haven't yet drilled the holes). StewMac's fretboard calculator puts the treble stud about 1/16 farther, the bass stud 2-3/16th. In that picture the neck is only clamped in place - I remove wood from either the tenon or pocket as necessary to change the angle and floss the heel to make it fit nice I also center the bridge based on the sides of the fretboard (not the centerline of the body, if the pocket is a hair off so will be the centerline). Here is actually measuring the stud location. If it looks odd its because this will be a leftie If you are interested in the build thread, here it is http://www.harmonycentral.com/forum/for ... -an-es-335

Author:	Cush [ Wed Aug 12, 2015 8:17 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Set Neck
The kits are pre drilled for the bridge posts. So with a kit you can not easily change the position of the bridge posts. That is why the neck body joint is so critical on these kits. I am building a second kit right now and it is close but still a little to short. I make my own neck for these so I will compensate for this. If I were using the supplied neck I would need to somehow shim it forward to get it right. Sometimes a scratch build is almost as easy as a kit. I have only built a couple of kits and so far they all had something cut wrong!

Author:	Freeman [ Wed Aug 12, 2015 10:50 am ]
Post subject:	Re: Set Neck
If that is the case, Bhoover should clamp the neck in the pocket and measure from the nut to the 12th fret, then from the 12th fret to the body. Put a piece of tape on and mark that location - that is the scale length. Then measure the additional distance to the centers of the holes - that will be the "compensation" - it should be about 1/16 on the treble and 2-3/16 on the bass sides. There is some adjustment in the ToM of course, but if it is very far off then the depth of the neck into the body should be changed (shimmed or trimmed). The angle is the second part - Gibson necks are typically set at 3 to 4 degrees but in reality what you want is the string plane to be within the vertical adjustment range of the ToM. Several things make that hard to measure - the neck will take a slight amount of relief from string tension and your truss rod adjustment, but I've had pretty good luck setting the fret plane at about 40-41/64ths off the top of the guitar at the bridge. It is very helpful to have the bridge you are going to use on hand - measurements are also available on websites like StewMac. I also wait until the f/b is fretted and on the neck, but that does make it a little more difficult to get the fit of the extension to the top of the body just right. On one LP I glued the neck in place with out the board on it and then did the final carving of the top to the plane of the board. I wouldn't recommend this on a 335 because of the thin veneer on the pressed top.

Author:	bhoover15 [ Wed Aug 12, 2015 2:02 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Set Neck
Ok I understand the angle and how those have really varied over the years with them falling in between 3.5 to 4.5 degrees usually, could you elaborate a bit more on the first part about the scale length and measurements that you were talking about, and it is a kit with pre drilled holes for the bridge. Thanks!

Author:	Cush [ Wed Aug 12, 2015 3:01 pm ]
Post subject:	Re: Set Neck
If your kit is cut correctly when the neck is fitted to the body the scale length will be correct. This has to be checked for accuracy before you glue it. To check it simply clamp the neck to the body in the position it will be in when glued. After you have the neck in place measure from the nut to the bridge. The bridge can be placed temporarily or you can make a mark at the point the saddle will be. A ES 335 should have a 24.75" scale length. To be sure that is the scale of the supplied neck you can measure from the nut to the 12th fret and double that measurement. To have proper intonation the length from nut to saddle should be a little over 24.75". The two holes for the bridge posts are at a slight angle with the bass side drilled closer to the tail. The total string length on the treble side should be about 24.85 and the bass side about 24.9 or 25" the bridge has adjustable saddles so there is some room for error.

Page 1 of 1	All times are UTC - 5 hours
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group http://www.phpbb.com/