johns Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 (edited) Hi guys, I have been reading through Melyvns and I just wanted to ask you guys about fretboard height. Do i put the bridge at the lowest point of its vertical action and use that height as the height the fretboard should be above the body so that at the lowest adjustment on the bridge the string runs along the bottom of the fretboard? I read that you set to the bottom and then adjust up to eliminate rattle. I am using a Gotoh fixed bridge that looks similar to a strat style trem but its a hardtail, with strings anchored via ferrules. Also forgot to mention this is no neck angle, straight neck cause i want the through neck but dont want to even think about making an angled through neck (craazy). Thanks in advance and sorry if this question makes no sense. As im typing im thinking more and more it is complete ramble! -Johns Edited March 10, 2010 by johns Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Bridge height / neck angle can be manipulated in many ways. I work by instinct and lessons learned , but here's what I do know : You can use a standard thickness FB with no neck angle and make a hard tail bridge work fine. Also a Floyd Rose. You'll end up recessing a TOM to make it work though. You can create neck angle by using a tapered FB on a flat neck. You won't gain huge amounts of height , but if you take a FB thats a 16th of an inch thinner at the neck and 3/32" thicker at the heel , you can gain almost 3/8" +/- depending on your scale length which really helps to get a TOM to the right location without much recessing. Don't forget to account for the fret height when planing along the FB , then the actual height of the string above that fret. That'll gain you some string height on the body too. Hope I didn't con-foose you worser. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns Posted March 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 thanks for the answer, it makes sense. got a few options there. The tapered FB is a cool lil trick, i was thinking the hard way and thats a good 1! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalhead28 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I say you look at where you actually want the bridge to be adjusted, maybe somewhere around the center of it's range or where it looks the best visually, and draw out some detailed plans with that in mind with the fret height, string action, etc. accounted for. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns Posted March 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Also a goo idea. Its something I dont see mentioned that much. The angled neck dudes mention it all the time but for the no angle neck builds you dont often see in the build thread dudes talking about determining the FB height based on bridge height. I have some tech drawings of the bridge (which should be arriving today in the mail) and they mention string pitch. Is that the minimum/maximum bridge adjustment travel? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metalhead28 Posted March 10, 2010 Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 Also a goo idea. Its something I dont see mentioned that much. The angled neck dudes mention it all the time but for the no angle neck builds you dont often see in the build thread dudes talking about determining the FB height based on bridge height. I have some tech drawings of the bridge (which should be arriving today in the mail) and they mention string pitch. Is that the minimum/maximum bridge adjustment travel? That's probably the distance between the strings. If you want to know the adjustment range, just move it up and down and measure it. Also with neck thrus, if I'm not doing a neck angle, I just make a little step on the neck so that the bottom of the fretboard is a little above the top of the body. I still make it 1/4" thick because I don't want to make the neck any thinner behind the truss rod. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns Posted March 10, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 10, 2010 I still make it 1/4" thick because I don't want to make the neck any thinner behind the truss rod. Yeah I can agree with that, esp on wizard style necks you dont need any less than is already there. I will draw up a plan with a step as you mentioned, seems the most logical idea to me! Thanks Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 Honestly I think some of what you said is confusing. 1. are you measuring off an unfretted board. Makes a difference 2. Neck pocket bolt-on or glue-in I will assume you are putting on a Premade neck. First look at another guitar and measure or eye ball how high the strings are off the end of the board. Make a shim if you like to match that height. Then with the neck in place use the shim and a straight edge lining one end up with the slot on the nut and the other on the shim and see what you have. It's up to you to make your best guess as to how high your action will be or you want. Even without strings attached you want the bridge at a lower than normal position. But at the same time you also have to make sure once you get the st strings on it will be normal height and the set screws are not at the bottom of the saddle. If you are making the body error on the side of two shallow and do a test fit you can always remove more wood from the pocket Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns Posted March 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 1. are you measuring off an unfretted board. Makes a difference Sorry i didnt mention that, I would base it off the fretted board. 2. Neck pocket bolt-on or glue-in I dont have any neck atm. Its going to be made, and its a neck through. I can understand with a bolt on you could shim/remove neck wood to adjust the height radically but I was confused about options with a through neck. I have it sorted out now though, as I have all the gear in front of me and am able to do an accurate drawing. I m lowering the saddles on the bridge to half, measuring the height and setting it 3/64 above fret so i have adjustment to raise or lower depending. Thankyou though for all the help guys! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns Posted March 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 ALSO, Cant believe I wrote FREATboard. How embarassing! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Woodenspoke Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 ALSO, Cant believe I wrote FREATboard. How embarassing! You can just edit it out I do it all the time. Your best bet is to measure off a working instrument both at the end of the fretboard (top of the frets to the body) and top of the saddles on a similar fixed bridge. then draw it out on paper and make sure you are close.. Neck throughs are drawn out on paper then made.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johns Posted March 11, 2010 Author Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 Drawn out on paper.... You couldn't stop me! Drawing them is my favorite part, break out the old drafting board and spend the whole day doing an orthogonal Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prostheta Posted March 11, 2010 Report Share Posted March 11, 2010 Did I ever mention this? I calculate everything with CAD and/or a bit o' Trig. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mors Phagist Posted March 13, 2010 Report Share Posted March 13, 2010 Honestly I think some of what you said is confusing. 1. are you measuring off an unfretted board. Makes a difference 2. Neck pocket bolt-on or glue-in I will assume you are putting on a Premade neck. First look at another guitar and measure or eye ball how high the strings are off the end of the board. Make a shim if you like to match that height. Then with the neck in place use the shim and a straight edge lining one end up with the slot on the nut and the other on the shim and see what you have. It's up to you to make your best guess as to how high your action will be or you want. Even without strings attached you want the bridge at a lower than normal position. But at the same time you also have to make sure once you get the st strings on it will be normal height and the set screws are not at the bottom of the saddle. If you are making the body error on the side of two shallow and do a test fit you can always remove more wood from the pocket Its a Through-neck, isn't it? Then why would he need a premade neck, let alone a pocket... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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