JamesW Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 I have just bought a Fernandes Montery X guitar. It has an angled neck, so the bridge and strings are therefore quite high from the body and the bridge pickup has to be raised a lot. Is this normal? The body doesn't have an arched-top, so I guess the string/bridge height is even higher than it would be with an archtop. And what is normally the reason for angling a neck anyway? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ki swordsman Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 2 quadruple topics in the same section by diff members within an hour of eachother........what are the odds? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzI Posted August 18, 2004 Report Share Posted August 18, 2004 neck angle is for the bridge, toms need a neck angle to keep the action height fairly low, other wise the bridge needs to be recessed into the body which is possible to do, for the most part trems dont need a neck angle, off hand idk why there is a reason tho, if u have a tom and the action is really high next time u restring it bfore you put the strings on lower the bridge, dont lower it all the way tho cuz ull get fret buzz, lower it to the point that there is no fret buzz which should give you a nice low action MzI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krizalid Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 If i had a fender type neck, and i want to use it with a T.O.M. , do i need to add a shim on the neck? or recess where the bridge is? or is there any much more advisable ideas? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
litchfield Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 (edited) I'll answer that question by letting you in on something. The purpose of the search function is to prevent questions like this from being asked every single week. Nothin personal, just gettin annoyed. Feel free to bump an old thread up if you think more opinions are available or needed. Edited August 19, 2004 by litchfield Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asm Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 litch, thats true. but then if everyone searches we have like 3 post and an archive of 1000 post. might as well buy a book then. even if they post the same stuff. someone who logs on for the first time sees people making post and that the board is active and it keeps things/minds moving to ask more questions. so its not all bad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
www Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 I agree with asm, but letting the newer members know about the search function is also a good thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MzI Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 if your using a fender neck with a tom you still need a neck angle, its not the neck itself but the bridge you use that either needs an angle or doesnt MzI Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shaggy Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 neck angles are used because early guitar-like instruments looked more like violins with frets, and violins have a neck angle because its more comfortable, its just a traditional thing Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted August 19, 2004 Report Share Posted August 19, 2004 neck angles are used because early guitar-like instruments looked more like violins with frets, and violins have a neck angle because its more comfortable, its just a traditional thing What the???? Man, please let us know where you get the good stuff, i need some of what your smokin!! No, they looked more like accoustic guitars which have zero angle. It has nothing to do with tradition, and EVERYTHING to do with the bridge hardware dimensions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadmike Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 one of the reasons a guitar has an angle is to make it more comfortable to play. zero angle guitar necks have very slightly larger frets which stretch the hand a little and are straight, which means you need to stretch your arm out a little further too. angled guitar necks come back toward the body meaning less stretch. the difference is minimal but aparent. personaly im not fussed, but when building, it makes life a lot easier to stick to a zero angled neck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rhoads56 Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 Mike, do you have ANY idea what you just said??? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 WHOO!!!!!!! It's been awhile since -that- bad boy has been broke out for display! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eddiewarlock Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 even guitars with recessed floyd roses need a neck angle, of course, it's a very slight angle, but it is there on good quality guitars, it's more visible on guitars with TOM's because you need a 3- 4 degrees angle to keep the string action nice and low, there is a neck angle on violins and cellos because those bridges are too tall and the neck angle is to compensate this, same goes to guitars with TOM's Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 WHOO!!!!!!! It's been awhile since -that- bad boy has been broke out for display! yes it has...but it is so richly deseved in this case.... mike..i read through your post multiple times and all i have to say is MY GOD MAN!!!! not trying to anger you...but damn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 Mike, do you have ANY idea what you just said??? OOOHHH MMMYYY GGOOODDDD!!!! I almost dropped back when I saw this...... Perry is BACK!!!! Dude I missed this stamp sooo bad! Mike, go read a book about building guitars, or better yet, do a search of all the threads in here and then post someting that really makes sense. I can't even understand the reason that you are explaining on your post! The reason for the angle neck is mainly because of the bridge that you are using and the arch that the carved top has on it! you can't have a straight neck (without angle) on a carved top like the Les Paul, because the string path will go straight into the belly of the body. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 even guitars with recessed floyd roses need a neck angle, of course, it's a very slight angle, but it is there on good quality guitars, sorry,but this is also untrue...neck angle has nothing to do with the quality of the guitar...only hardware,as was mentioned,and in the case of a recessed floyd, personal preference. with a recessed floyd you can choose to run no neck angle at all...because the saddle height above the body when the floyd is recessed allows you to merely increase the height of the frets above the top of the guitar body a little bit,OR you can run the fret height relationship to the body lower,and angle a bit. i have both types of guitars...they both have their benifits.personally i like a bit of an angle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadmike Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 having spent 2 hours yesterday reading/mucking about with my guitar and books. i read almost exactly what i wrote down. do i have any idea what im talking about? i thought it made sense? if thats wrong, then ive either been spending TOO long with my nose in the books or that books worthless. i think i better go curl up the corner.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deadmike Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 "you can't have a straight neck (without angle) on a carved top like the Les Paul, because the string path will go straight into the belly of the body." i didnt realise id said that??? i was talking more about zero angle fenders. im scared mommy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 having spent 2 hours yesterday reading/mucking about with my guitar and books. i read almost exactly what i wrote down. why don't you write down EXACTLY what the book says.then we can tell you if you merely misunderstood what the book says or if the book itself has problems Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 There are flat-topped guitars that have neck angles as well (LP Special, anyone?) but the carved top just emphasizes it. Most Floyd-equipped guitars these days go the direction of routing out behind the trem to get "full floating" action on the trem, but it's entirely possible to leave that wood in the body, add some neck angle to the pocket (by angling the base of the pocket itself or adding a shim) and raise the bridge. It's also possible to have a Tune-o-Matic style bridge on a guitar with no (or at least minimal) bridge angle. You just have to recess the bridge into the body a bit. This is the way Godin does it on their LG series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted December 8, 2004 Report Share Posted December 8, 2004 Darren remember that the LP special is an LP that is not carved, look at them sideways and you can tell that the special is thinner, and that the carved one is thicker to compensate for the thickness of the carve. (If this make sense, I'm trying to translate my thinking here!) And the reason I will say for the Special neck angle is the TOM. Also don't forget the Carvins, I think they have the most beautiful carved tops other than PRS and they use the recesed TOM. I love their new California series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darren wilson Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 Maiden: Yes, you just proved my point. Whether a guitar is built with a neck angle is completely independent of whether it has a carved top or not. You could build a flat-topped set-neck guitar with NO neck angle as long as you recess the tune-o-matic into the body. Or you could use a lower-profile flat-mount hardtail bridge. Just to clarify, in the last paragraph of my previous post, i said "no (or at least minimal) bridge angle." I actually meant to say "neck angle." Sorry for any confusion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maiden69 Posted December 9, 2004 Report Share Posted December 9, 2004 Cool, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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