Jump to content

Building A Bolt On Neck


Recommended Posts

Can we let this S rest, and go back to Setch's guitar neck! I don't feel like waisting my time writing. This has been disscussed over and over again, is like when in the early 80's PRS came and talked about the compensated nut, everybody say he has NUTS, but he did it anyways and now a lot of people swears by the Earvana... MAybe he (Master Mind) is up to somenthing we don't think is relevant, (yes he didn't know about a basic skunk stripe that has been in the marked for say 30 yrs) but he does got a point with the distance. Do I care! Nope, I am happy as hell with my inperfect intonated guitar, and if I want to Improve I will get a compensated nut, instead of waisting my time trying to play with redesigning the frets.

Just let it die, and let's see more progress pics of Simos new neck!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 65
  • Created
  • Last Reply

Top Posters In This Topic

Eg:  Measure the e string versus the d string, and you will find the e to be slightly longer since it has to travel diagonally.  However, what you are missing is that if you measure the fret spacing *along the diagonal path plotted by the string* it will also be greater.  You can't measure one straight and the other diagonally!

Dude, that IS EXACTLY WHAT I MEASURED. You're missing the point here.

The distance from NUT to 24th fret on the G string IS SHORTER THAN the distance from NUT to 24th fret on the E string. Calculating fret distances will tell you the distance from NUT to 24th fret should be identical for every string, relative to the strings PATH>

It is not this way with angled strings!

This means that as you move outward on GREATER angled strings, and move upwards where the angle produces greater changes in distance relative to the straight hypothetical strings, you because sharper in pitch.

So, your statement proves my point - that the fret spacing is greater - which is exactly what I said :D the fret space is greater, which means the strings will lie on the frets and be greater.

Aaaah!! The string is longer, and so is the scale length! Thus, the intervals remain correct, and the string remains in tune.

1.Draw a square.

2.Draw a horizintal line dividing it in half, then another dividing the lower half in two again.

3.Now draw a line joining the top left corner to the bottom right corner.

4.Measure the length of one side, and the respective length of half the side, and one quarter.

5.Now measure the diagonal line, and the distances between each point where it intersects your horizontals.

The diagonal distances will all be longer, (and here is the critical bit!) by the same multiplier.

You get it?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Exactly. What Setch is trying to tell you is that when the strings travel along a cone, the string distance will be longer, but the fret spacing is proportionally longer to make up for the discrepancy in scale length. Thus a fretboard with a taper actually has minute differences in scale length for different strings. There is no scale length problem that eliminating taper will solve.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
Adding more pieces and more glue can never result in better strength, the simplest solution - using the strength of wood and not glue - is always the best.

Hmmm. I don't know that's true. Take two pieces of wood and glue them together. The next day, put it in a vice and hit it with a hammer or apply some force to the glue line until it breaks.

Did it break on the seam or elsewhere in the wood? Don't bother, I'll tell you. It'll likely break in the wood and not on the glue seam. Why? If jointed properly and the glue allowed to cure, the joint will ALWAYS be stronger than the wood.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

jnewman - truss rods provide strength to the neck.

Uh no. They provide a counter-force to the load imposed by string tension. So therefore, if anything, they challenge the strength of a neck. You clearly don't know what you're talking about here.

Think about it, truss rods are in fact, barely even attached to the neck. It's very much an independent structure in the neck. It's therefore quite impossible for the rod to "add strength" to it.

can the wood bend the truss rod? No, the strings do. Therefore the truss rod provides strength to counter bowing of the wood. It's really that simple.

Again, you have this backwards. Apparently, it really isn't that simple to you. The strings don't bend the truss rod. They bend the wood. The truss rod stops that from happening. But that doesn't mean it makes the neck stronger. It wouldn't stop the neck from breaking off in accident. And again, the truss doesn't counter the bowing of the wood per se. It counters the forces creating that bow in the wood.

If I were you I'd spend more time reading and observing than spewing.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Really nice work. I noticed that on your blog you added the frets to the fretboard before you glued it to the rest of the body. I just did two fret jobs like this and I got a little bowing of the fretboard (my luthier book said this would happen). Yours looks really flat. Is there any trick. Do you always do your fret jobs like this?

http://home.asparagine.net/ant/bloguploads/fretting.jpg

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I tape the board down, with 1 length of doublesided tape, trimmed into 3 narrow pieces, 1 at each side, and one in the centre. This seems to keep it pretty tightly held. The board does still backbow when you untape it, but not by much at all.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Over the past week or so I've been working on a custom neck for PG member Simo.  I've taken a few snaps along the way, and put them up, along with a brief blurb, on my blog.

I thought this might be interesting to folks here, and I'm also hoping to break the curse concerning PG members posting about building necks for other PG members.  Third time lucky.... right :D

installing_dots2.jpg

Gorecki, I was just agreeing with what he said here.. lol

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

×
×
  • Create New...