Official Luthiers Forum!

hey i'm new to this site but im building a les paul and i need to know about rake angles. i know that the regular angle on a les paul is a 5 degree angle, but i need to know if i apply the angle to the body or to the neck. any help?

The angle between the neck and the body is cut on the top of the body. You will also need to cut this angle on the shoulders of the neck tenon.

You can check out Part 5 on my blog to see how I cut mine. http://eksomething.blogspot.com/


Eric

thanks that helped a lot but now i got to buy a new neck blank because i assumed it was applied to the neck but no worrys its good to learn great finish on the lp by the way

and by the way how long was the tennon on the neck in the picture because i may have done it too short

Looks like the tenon is about 1/32" under 4 1/4". The tenon extends into the neck pickup cavity and gets partially routed away when routing the cavity. I think tenons on newer Les Pauls end at the cavity, but don't quote me on that.

Eric

whichever is easier for you. Also, 5 degrees is a lot, more than I've ever used on any electric, including those with TOM bridges. It tends to end up somewhere between 3 and 4 degrees - draw it out in full, from the side, don't simply trust numbers on a plan.

5 degrees is a lot. Everything I read was that they are anywhere between 2.5 and 4.5 degrees. For mine, I followed the plan and choose 4.4 degrees. Based on my final bridge height, I definitely could have gone less, but it hasn't been an issue.