Bridge Hieght With Relation To Neck Angle

[verhoevenc]

Ok, I drew everything out and I'm wondering if this sounds right to anyone?

The bridge rises a total of .5" above the body (but can be raised), the heel of the neck has a total thickness of 1 3/8", 1/4" of which rises above the body at the end of the fingerboard. It's set a total of 5.5" into the body. At the other end of the neck (the nut side) the neck is 13/16" thick, 3/16" of which is the fingerboard's wood, and then the nut rises an additional 1/16" above the fingerboard. With this I've found that the angle of the neck pocket should be 1 degree... giving the strings a rise of 1/8" at the 12th fret (with the bridge in the lowest hieght, but like said before, it can be raised).

For those who wanna know, the bridge is a Hipshot Baby Grand.

Anybody see anything wrong with ANY of that information? (this is my first time angling a neck, my last guitar was a neck-thru with no angled neck, and the bridge was just recessed).

Thanks in advance,

Chris

[xlr8]

Ok, I drew everything out and I'm wondering if this sounds right to anyone?

The bridge rises a total of .5" above the body (but can be raised), the heel of the neck has a total thickness of 1 3/8", 1/4" of which rises above the body at the end of the fingerboard. It's set a total of 5.5" into the body. At the other end of the neck (the nut side) the neck is 13/16" thick, 3/16" of which is the fingerboard's wood, and then the nut rises an additional 1/16" above the fingerboard. With this I've found that the angle of the neck pocket should be 1 degree... giving the strings a rise of 1/8" at the 12th fret (with the bridge in the lowest hieght, but like said before, it can be raised).

For those who wanna know, the bridge is a Hipshot Baby Grand.

Anybody see anything wrong with ANY of that information? (this is my first time angling a neck, my last guitar was a neck-thru with no angled neck, and the bridge was just recessed).

Thanks in advance,

Chris

←

What is the scale length and at which fret does the neck join the body?

[verhoevenc]

oh poop, I forgot scale length lol, sorry.

Scale length is 25", it connects to the upper bout at the 15th fret, and the lower cut-away bout at the 20th fret (single cut body style).

Chris

[xlr8]

oh poop, I forgot scale length lol, sorry.

Scale length is 25", it connects to the upper bout at the 15th fret, and the lower cut-away bout at the 20th fret (single cut body style).

Chris

←

Here's a handy link to a neck angle calculator

Neil

[verhoevenc]

Ok, then something is not right, cause I drew it out and got an angle where if the bridge is at it's LOWEST hieght, the action is too low (cause I figure I can always raise the bridge.) And drew it out and everything, and it's not too low as to not be playable. I used triangles to figure everything out and it came out to having a neck degree/angle of 1. However, this calculator says I should have something like 1.68 degrees? So who do I believe? I physical drawing I have in front of me, or the calculator?

Chris

PS: The calculator says that if I raise my bridege I need to angle it MORE, whereas in MINE I'm gunna have to slightly raise it to REACH the 1 degree angle properly?!

[verhoevenc]

Ok, i JUST did it again, and if you make a right triangle out of it using the top of the bridge, a line parallel to the body at the hieght of the bridge all the way out to the nut, and then a line from the nut to this parallel line you get: hypotenus (strings; ie: from bridge to nut line) 25", then the line from the nut to the line parallel to the body starting at the bridge's hieght is 13/32. If you use sin to find the angle (the one between the bridge hieght parallel line and the line from bridge to nut) you get that angle to be .93 degrees. WAY different from what the angle calculator link says to do.

With my angle, i can measure (cause it's all to scale) that string hieght at the nut is 1/16", and string hight at the 22nd fret (last fret) is 1/8".

(And remember I can always RAISE the bridge...)

I'm SO confused?!?!?!!?

Chris

[TeiscosRock]

Sounds like the calculator is assuming that you WON't have your bridge all the way down. With the greater angle like that you'd be forced to raise the bridge.

[verhoevenc]

OK, I just KINDA figured it out... I was measuring the angle that the STRINGS were making downward towards the nut....

HOWEVER, this ISN"T the same as the neck's angle because of the fact the neck starts out with a string action of 1/16" at the nut, and becomes 1/8" at the 22nd fret. THEREFORE the angles aren't the same.

But this arises a new problem.... the fretboard, as you go along the incline is getting FARTHER away from the strings... and that would mean that the angle the fretboard is at is LESS than the angle the strings is at though....

IE: More Problems!

[verhoevenc]

No, the calculator just assumes however high you write your bridge as, in my case .5"

But screw it, I've simply just totally re-designed my guitar around these figures.

It's much easier to conform then figure out what I did wrong in my previous design.

Chris

[frank falbo]

Less math, more touchey-feeley.

All that math still doesn't account for fret height, action preference, and most importantly, neck relief. Neck relief can account for some bridge lowering on a guitar once it's built. It's also why we put a slight fall-away at the end of the fretboard during leveling. And depending on the kind of body it is, you can expect some slight tilt at the neck joint, too. It might take years, but there will be some pull where the neck meets the body. Still, you want to start with a little extra neck angle IMO. The 1.68 or whatever that calculator gives you is probably what you should use for your first time. By now, I can look at a guitar and know what kind of angle I should cut. But I've cut literally hundreds of neck angles over the past 15 years.

[criss]

http://www.buildyourguitar.com/resources/tips/eangle.htm

If you already have your bridge this is a good way of double checking . Could be worth a look see .

HTH