Bridge/tailpeice?

[luther]

im building my 1st guitar and had a few questions,hope someone can help.Im going for a prs style body with a 25 in sale lenght and 22 frets.my question is can i use a stop tail piece like a wilkinson/gotoh adjustable bridge tailpeice or something like that without the neck angle?id prefer to just let the neck sit proud like a strat if i could.and if so what bridge/tailpeice would give me the most ajustment for the height?also as i have put strats together before(warmoth)how would i ground the guitar to the bridge with a stoptail peice?maybe ill just rout for a strat tremolo but i was hopeing to get away for that.

[killemall8]

this question has been asked a hundred times. yes you need a neck angle. there is no tom bridge that is low enough to eliminate a neck angle. to ground the bridge, you drill a hole from the post hole into the pickup cavity, or into the control cavity.

[Mickguard]

this question has been asked a hundred times.

So why do you still get the answer wrong?

No, you do NOT need a neck angle.

But if you want your neck to be straight, the fretboard needs to stand quite proud of the body --much more than a Strat. Have a look at most Rickenbackers to see what I mean. They accommodate the difference by stacking the pickguard.

There are implications in doing it this way --for one, your pickups will need to stand up pretty high too, which won't work for all pickups -- but then, this lets you use other types instead, like toasters/surface mounted pickups.

I don't know if PRS has an angle or not --I'm assuming they don't, because they lower the bridge into the surface of the guitar, which allows you to build a straight neck with a lower profile.

On the other hand, if the only reason you don't want a neck angle is because you think it's too difficult, think again, it's not that hard to do.

For the bridge ground, you simply drill a hole from the control cavity into the hole for the bridge post, run the ground wire into there-- the stud will brace the wire and provide the ground. Easy enough.

[Blackdog]

this question has been asked a hundred times.

So why do you still get the answer wrong?

No, you do NOT need a neck angle.

But if you want your neck to be straight, the fretboard needs to stand quite proud of the body --much more than a Strat. Have a look at most Rickenbackers to see what I mean. They accommodate the difference by stacking the pickguard.

There are implications in doing it this way --for one, your pickups will need to stand up pretty high too, which won't work for all pickups -- but then, this lets you use other types instead, like toasters/surface mounted pickups.

I don't know if PRS has an angle or not --I'm assuming they don't, because they lower the bridge into the surface of the guitar, which allows you to build a straight neck with a lower profile.

On the other hand, if the only reason you don't want a neck angle is because you think it's too difficult, think again, it's not that hard to do.

For the bridge ground, you simply drill a hole from the control cavity into the hole for the bridge post, run the ground wire into there-- the stud will brace the wire and provide the ground. Easy enough.

Let me just add a few things that I DO know.

PRS has a neck angle on the hardtail models.

PRS do not (to my knowledge) recess the bridges into the top (is this what you meant, Mickguard ??)

The PRS hardtail has a 12mm profile, about the same of a wilkinson wrap around. The intonable one is around 13mm tall. The lower lip of the studs add 1.5 to 2mm to that.

In my first build (check link at the bottom) I got the right clearance with a 2deg neck angle. It's a PRS style, 22 frets, 25" scale and a wilkinson wraparound.

But DO NOT take this figures as the absolute truth: measure, make drawings full scale, calculate and measure again to double check. Only then decide what is the angle you need !!

Just seating the neck tall is not going to look right, and angling the pocket is not that difficult anyway. Search and read this forum, lot's of interesting discussions on the subject.

And good luck with your project.

[Mickguard]

PRS do not (to my knowledge) recess the bridges into the top (is this what you meant, Mickguard ??)

Yeah, recess, that's the word I was looking for. I thought PRS did that with their stoptail bridge? Must be someone else.

[killemall8]

PRS do not (to my knowledge) recess the bridges into the top (is this what you meant, Mickguard ??)

Yeah, recess, that's the word I was looking for. I thought PRS did that with their stoptail bridge? Must be someone else.

it was carvin, and i forgot to mention recessing