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Getting that 1 degree route for TOM


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I'm gonna route the neck pocket with a 2 degree angle by just shimming the body side of my template. This way the template will be at the proper angle and my router will follow it. I was thinking I could get the angle with a protractor and use a solid shim under the template. I just need to make sure that the template won't shift as I'm routing once I have it lined up correctly.

I'll draw a line on paper that measures the length of the neck pocket. Then I'll use a protractor to find my 2 degrees from neck pocket length line. Then join these two lines to make a 90 degree angle (a right triangle will be formed from all 3 lines). The length of this line will tell me how much to shim the template.

Does this sound right to you experts? :D

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Guest Litchfield Custom Gutars

The recess is what I was referring to. I think it is a 10 degree angle you were tryng toi say. That's what Warmoth says is standard. I think the recess looks classier, and then if you use piezo bridge, the wires are easy to hide.

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Sorry Snork, I'm getting a little bit confused :D

Are you talking about:

Angling the TOM on the body (like in the pinned thread that's around somewhere) for intonation?

Angling the neck back from the body so it's back towards you a bit when you're playing (if so I think 10 degrees is too big, I think 2-4 is about average)?

Angling the headstock away from the neck as on Gibsons etc?

A bridge recess is where you cut away a little of the body to make sure that the TOM is a bit lower than it would normally be. This is generally used when the is no neck angle so that you have the correct action. Correct me if I'm wrong people.

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I haven't done any guitar-building (yet), but my Godin LG is done with a recessed TOM-style bridge.

It's exceedingly simple. All you want to do is basically sink your TOM 'into' the top of the guitar deeply enough that you no longer need to angle the neck. Figure out where you would normally screw on your TOM, then rout a channel there that's a few mm deep (deep enough to eliminate the need for an angled neck), only slightly bigger than your TOM itself, so that it can sit down there in that channel.

It's one of those things that's so simple I don't understand why it hasn't always been done this way... and it's so simple that it's almost hard to describe! Google for guitars that have "recessed tune-o-matic" and you've got to find a picture sooner or later, if you still can't visualize it.

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angling neck back from body. but this idea of recessing the TOM sounds good can someone explain this to me?

its just like recessing a floyd etc.

Just route out a section around the bridge by a few mms.

This lets gives you a bit more room to go up and down, and keeps you from having to use an angled neck pocket.

I know someone here made a V w/ a recessed TOM. may have to search for it though. i'll see if i can find it.

http://projectguitar.ibforums.com/index.ph...318&hl=recessed

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If you go with a recessed Tunomatic you will need to consider the break angle over the bridge. If you don't have enough you can get rattling saddles, or even strings which jump out of the saddle if you pick them too hard.

Like many things in guitar building it is not as simple as it may appear, until you have tried it. Conversely, angling your neck pocket is not nearly so complex as many seem to believe, provided you carefully calculate the angles before you start making sawdust. It's much easier to erase mistakes on paper than to put back wood you shouldn't have removed...

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  • 3 years later...

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