Hi all,
I've been experimenting a little with my last few builds adding a slight backwards angle to the neck. I remember seeing this mentioned quite a few times as a way to get lower action. I've had pretty good results with a very slight back angle.
I just put together a new build today which has a bit more of an extreme angle to it... anyway have a look and see what you think.
So... the action is super low (1mm at first fret, 1.5mm at 12th), but I'm getting horrific fret buzz all the way up the fretboard. Is this too much of an angle? Or could I compensate with a higher bridge?
I achieved this angle using the this design:
I put a 2mm block under the neck at the front part of the box and a 6mm block under the tail end.
Let me know what you think!
Rick
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You'd have to take material off the underside of the neck in the box and what ever you took off you'd need to add to the block for the tail piece then you may have to alter the bridge , so I'd save a lot of work and make a new nut or shim it up and the same with the bridge , I allways make mine 2mm higher and sand down to get the action height , my last build was 1mm at nut and 2mm at 12th plays perfect but I did spend a lot of time on the frets .
Ritchey,
I like a little angle in the neck to box as well. It gives more room for the bridge & keeps a good break angle over the bridge. You should be OK shimming up the bridge until you get the right action at the box end of the fretboard. Sounds like you may want to lower the action at the nut. Buzzes can be frustrating though, often I have found the culprit to be a flat spot on the saddle or nut, so I check with good downpressure w/ my fingernail at the edge of the break.
Nice looking CBG!
Hey Richey - I've done the angle on the last 4-5 builds or so and it's made a huge difference in action as you know. I read somewhere about a 2 degree angle, so that's what I've tried to go for. On my latest build I decided to go more in the 3-4 degree range and I ended up with a similar situation to yours. Raised the bridge and all good, but bordering on too tall for my liking. A little angle goes a long way from what I can tell.
I've also been using a zero fret and a scarfed headstock at about a 12-15 degree angle. Combined with the 2 degree back angle, I've been getting good low action and no buzz without even thinking about dressing the frets, which I would consider only as a last resort. The zero fret is the best part - no more fine tuning of the nut when it's time to string up and play.
Well, you took the bait didn't you mate! I'm sure it was you I'd seen mentioning back angle before :)
So you don't think the angle is too extreme?
Thanks for all the replies guys!
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