balooka Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 Hi, I'm new to guitarbuilding and have just begun to draw out my guitar. I've taken most measurements from a Patrick Eggle Berlin, except the bodyshape. I'm almost done with my guitardrawings on the computer and have calculated almost everything untill it was correct but now I stumble on something that I didn't look into at an earlier stage of the design job... I'm gonna build mine with a deep set neck. The neck on the Eggle is about 3mm above the bodysurface (not including the fingerboard). I *assumed* it was notmal since my other guitars have a similar construction, but the other have floyd rose's trems and the eggle has a tune-o-matic. Is there a rule or chart of some kind where I can see how the bridge and neckheight interact? Is is neccesary to have this or can the fingerboard be right on top of the boby surface?? TIA JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 hmmm we see this question alot, i think we should do a tutorial of some kind... probably a chart with the 2 or 3 types of bridges and ways to build the guitar like you said.. ... not a bad idea!!! In general tune-o-matic's are taller, and require the neck (fingerboard) to be higher up out(above) of the guitar, 2 common solutions for this are, angle back the neck anywhere from 2 to 4 degree's, and routing a hole for the TOM bridge to sink into. Floyd's are a bit lower but not by much, which is part of the reason why you usualy see a routing around the bridge that it sits in, this is most evident in ibanez guitars, where you can see the fingerboard is almost the only part of the neck you can see sticking out of the body. Some guitars employ a bit of both solutions. Ibanez Jem guitars for example have a recessed (sunk) bridge and the neck is angled back a bit (different depths at the front and back of the neck pocket). I think those would be your 2 best options there, hope that helps and welcome to the forum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daveq Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 What kind of bridge are you using? For Floyd bridges, I have seen guitars with a small amount of neck showing above the body and some with just the fretboard showing. Your side view of the guitar will determine this if you are using a fixed bridge. If you are using a Floyd, then you just need to determine if it's going to be a top mounted or recessed bridge. As far as the "normal" - I have seen both when it comes to Floyd bridged guitars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balooka Posted January 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 Thanks guys I'm not yet sure what bridge I'm gonna use (can't really decide) but I think it's gonna be an original Floyd or the new Speedloader Floyd. But my biggest problem is that I'm going to make a deep set neck and therefore wasn't planning on doing a neckangle (because on various sites 'they' say that on a Floyd you don't need the angle...) Correct me if I'm wrong but I reckon it's 'easier' to put on a recessed Floyd since there is more room for adjustment. Either way, if I set it to 3 mm above body surface I shoud be able to use TOM or Floyd right? This matter is *really* bugging me since my drawings are great (at least I think they are) and this is for now stopping me from starting to cut up some wood. Heh, when do you think you're gonna start that manual/chart thingy btw?? TIA JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 Either way, if I set it to 3 mm above body surface I shoud be able to use TOM or Floyd right? you'll have to define "it" you mean the neck or the fingerboard? cause if you mean the neck, then yes, cause then on top of that you'll add another 6.35mm(fingerboard) and that would be just about right for a floyd (i think.... trying to remember here..) i don't know if that would be good for a TOM the chart, well i've never done a guitar with a TOM, at least not yet, so i wouldn't be fully qualified to do up sed chart. Maybe someone(s) else will.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balooka Posted January 13, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 Hi 'It' is indeed the neck, not the fingerboard. For now I'm planning to do the FR guitar and if that is going ok I would like to have one with a TOM and different hardware set-up. Routerjigs will be lasercut from half inch stainless steel by a company a friend of mine owns, so for that I have to be sure my drawings are 95% correct. I'm working on a jig to shape the neck contours and backshape but for that I have to decide wether or not I'll 'raise' the neck 3mm above body-surface... Am i making sense here? TIA JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
krazyderek Posted January 13, 2004 Report Share Posted January 13, 2004 ya, i think i caught ya there, i'd wait till the fingerboard was on there, radiused' and fretted before i contoured the back of the neck. you always want to leave extra wood there anyways, just in case. I measured my squire strat. the bottom of the fingerboard is ~2.5mm above the body +0.5mm for the thickness of the finish so 3mm sounds about right, BUT that guitar has a pickguard on it. If you're not going to use a pickguard.... umm then.. you might want to try for a ibanez formula.... where the neck (or bottom of the fingerboard) is 1.5mm above the body, but this will mean recessing the bridge a tad more. but might look a bit better if you're not using a pickguard. HOWEVER, as if this isn't confusing enough, ibanez guitars are built with a 3/16" (~5mm) fingerboard instead of the standard 1/4" (6.35mm). In this case it would be ok to use the thicker 1/4" board, it'll just mean that you won't have ot recess your floyd by a tad... So ok, i'd go with 1.5mm and a 6.35mm Fboard, but, what you really need to do, since you're doing all your drawing's before hand is decide on your bridge, order it in and take some measurements, then you'll have a better idea of what you're doing. So that then once you have everything worked out you know exactly how to cut your lumber Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balooka Posted January 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2004 thanks You are probably right. I've taken most of my measurements from a FR clone and used the Eggle as a reference for the neck (since I like it alot). I'm gonna order an OFR before I send the neckdrawings to the CNC company. I'll start working on my body first. BTW, on the Floyd Rose site the show the new speedloader trem. Is there someone here that aready installed one? Are the things to look out for? Oh and one more thing, is the speedloader suitable for headless necks without using the steinberger approach (which means making the back of your body butt-ugly)? TIA JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbkim Posted January 14, 2004 Report Share Posted January 14, 2004 Heh, the back end of the Steinberger is "butt-ugly" because you need to have access to the tuners that are located at the bridge. Nope, speedloader doesn't need this access space so you can have a traditionally shaped butt on your guitar body . I dislike the Steinberger M's. The L's define a "true" Steinberger to me . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
balooka Posted January 14, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 14, 2004 heh kewl! Hmm maybe I should go for that then - probalby costs a tad mor the the original but I do like the clean look of that new thing... thanks JP Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbkim Posted January 14, 2004 Report Share Posted January 14, 2004 heh kewl! Hmm maybe I should go for that then - probalby costs a tad mor the the original but I do like the clean look of that new thing... thanks JP Keep in mind that the speedloader strings cost about $11/set US... and only Dean Markley makes them. Plus I've yet to see them offer single first strings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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