jessejames Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 My centerline is off on this latest project, not by much at all, but it is still off, and I have set the neck. I haven't drilled for the bridge yet though, can I just compensate by offsetting the bridge slightly? Or will it not be that big of a deal and just construct as usual. It is probably off by less than 1 degree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kammo1 Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 Don't sweat it bro just temporarily fit the nut add 2 pieces of cotton to simulate the 2 outer E strings and tie to the 2 outer saddles and position the bridge so both pieces of cotton are equal distances from the edge of the fretboard mark and fit bridge to this position, there easy fix. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim37 Posted January 10, 2011 Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 i think what kammo is saying is compensate by offsetting the bridge. and i would agree with that 1degree can make a big diffence over the distance of lenth of the neck. especialy when you consider how close the strings are to the edge of the neck. i hope you havent done the pickup routs yet. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted January 10, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2011 i've done all the pickup routs and everything. But it's probably off by less than 1 degree. I was just going to install the nut then add two strings then move it to get all the centerlines right. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Our Souls inc. Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Man, you got some luck with templates, eh? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted January 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 Haha yeah I know! The last one, had I done it the way I said would be best to, nothing would have went wrong. But I wanted to expirement and see what happened, and it didn't throw it too off, but I should have just taken the way I knew would work instead of the way I suspected would work. It's completely my fault. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 I would shim and re-route. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted January 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 It's already set in there. The centerline wasn't drastically off anyway, I should have just taken more time about it, but it's already glued in there now, so no crying over spilled milk, just gotta adjust the bridge to compensate. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guitar2005 Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 It's already set in there. The centerline wasn't drastically off anyway, I should have just taken more time about it, but it's already glued in there now, so no crying over spilled milk, just gotta adjust the bridge to compensate. By how much is it off? If its something like 1/32" to 3/64", the pickup routes should still be ok. Just center the bridge studs on the neck centerline. Next time, you'll know to do a dry fit 1st and check the alignment before glueing. Neck alignment is one of the most crucial parts of guitar building. I always double and triple check before setting the neck and/or drilling bridge bushings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted January 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 It's off by less than 1/8", havent busted out the rulers yet, but it isn't off by much. And yeah, I just got into a panic because I had neck pocket problems and glued it in, lesson learned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jessejames Posted January 11, 2011 Author Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 (edited) I went ahead and snapped a photo so I could get your thoughts and opinions. As you can see it isn't off by much at all. Edited January 11, 2011 by jessejames Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FireFly Posted January 11, 2011 Report Share Posted January 11, 2011 You might be half a pole piece off on the bridge pickup... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drak Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 As long as you don't have the neck permanently in place, you can make the center join of the bookmatch your centerline, it's certainly nice to shoot for. As SOON as you permanently place the neck, the centerline of the wood doesn't matter anymore at all unless the two happen to agree with each other. If the neck isn't parallel with the centerline in the wood, then the wood centerline is a completely and utterly meaningless piece of information now, don't even look at it any more. Once that neck is adhered and cannot be moved, you now have a NEW centerline, the ONLY centerline that matters. Your new centerline is found by: Placing a straightedge next to the neck on both sides. Placing a long piece of tape running from the L/R edges of the neck down to the back end of the guitar for each side. Drawing a line out with a pencil down to the back end of the guitar for each side. Then find your center between those lines in a couple of places down the body, draw a line connecting those dots, and you now have the only centerline that matters. If the neck is not in agreement with the centerline of the wood, the centerline of the wood doesn't matter anymore, not a lot, not a little, not at all. Completely ignore it, it's just a cosmetic issue now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westhemann Posted January 12, 2011 Report Share Posted January 12, 2011 Also,to hide the polepiece issue,either use blade pickups or install plastic covers...$5 a pair at guitar parts resource Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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