Check for straightness

[bluesdude]

I'm putting a maple neck on my tele project.

I'm not sure the neck is straight.

What is the best way to check the straightness of a neck?

[weezerboy]

i've always done this with strings on, sit down, put the body of the guitar on your feet, so that the neck is pointing towards you, then look down the neck, adjust the angle that you hold it at until the frets appear pretty close together, and make sure that all of the strings look parallel, and then - it is veryvery easy to see if there is something wrong

that made no sense did it?

dan

[krazyderek]

the most acurate way is to get one of those stew mac steel straight edges, one of the notched straight edges are good for checking fretted necks aswell, but they'll cost ya,

[Guitarfrenzy]

Yeah I really like their straightedges. They have a nice beveled edge so you can really have a pinpoint accurate reading of the fretboard. I had bought the pack they used to sell that had 4 straightedges as a package deal, I don't understand why they just discontinued them. I do however think that the 18" one is the most used one.

[soapbarstrat]

Yeah I really like their straightedges. They have a nice beveled edge so you can really have a pinpoint accurate reading of the fretboard. I had bought the pack they used to sell that had 4 straightedges as a package deal, I don't understand why they just discontinued them. I do however think that the 18" one is the most used one.

Because they came up with the little , odd-shaped triangle called the 'fret rocker'.

The side deflection of stewmac straightedges really suck.

[Guitarfrenzy]

What do you use Soap?

[soapbarstrat]

Main baby is a 24" 'Bridge City tool works' precision straightedge .002" tolerance over the whole 2 foot length, versus stew-macs that has a .003" tolerance over a 2 foot length.

I bet this link won't take you right to it, but I'll try anyway. (you'd probably have to search the site for it)

http://www.bridgecitytools.com/pages_frame...y=0&tertiary=-1

I have an old 12" straight-edge that was my uncle's. Probably from the 50's

Checks out very accurate against the 'Bridge City'

Then I cut another 12" (not as old as the other 12") into short pieces 4" , 3", 2" and the smallest is something around 1 1/4". When it was 12" it didn't check out perfect, and the side deflection was not super-good, but the cut pieces are very accurate.

Then finally the stew-mac notched straight-edge, which has poor side deflection (putting the flat side of it up against the edge of the BC 24")

I also had that set from stew mac, long time ago before I made my short ones. They were so inaccurate, I sent them back.

I bought their notched one, because I'm not sure if I can make my own. I will try to someday.

I don't think the company that makes the stew-mac ones has their act together enough to be making such precision equipment.

Another way to check the side deflection, is to hold the edge flat against a table top, and trace a thin line along the edge, then tilt the straight-edge up on it's side (so it's resting on it's narrow edge[ you'd have to hold the beveled ones, or they'd fall]) then see how well it stays right on that traced line.

My bridge City is perfect. No side deflection that I can find. I paid around $40.00 for it many years ago. they sell for $60.00 now

I would expect stew-macs to be just as accurate, but in my experience, they certainly are not.

Rob

[aggravated_alien]

I put the guitar on my lap in the playing position and press the string down at the 1st fret with my fretting hand and use my other hand to press down at the 15th fret.

Then I check for any space under the strings then adjust the truss rod accordingly.

Straight edges are on my list of things to buy though.

Edited October 11, 2008 by aggravated_alien

[erikbojerik]

Quick check - capo at #1 and fret wherever you want, then look closely (on a completed guitar that is).

Next level - good straightedge as soap says. Also works great on neck/fingerboard blanks!

Want to measure the gap under the string or edge? Feeler gauges.

[soapbarstrat]

Well, now StewMac has that cool neck relief gauge which looks ideal to me. Not just because of the dial, but because it's aluminum (I suppose a hard polycarb type plastic would work just as well), so it won't scratch or scuff the frets as badly as a steel straight-edge. And of course that dial; Necks respond differently to T-rod nut tweaks. Now with a dial gauge you can see just how much a neck is responding to the tweaking, *while* you're doing the tweaking (assuming you can hold the relief gauge in position with one hand, while the other hand is cranking the wrench.