Neck angle issue?

Hi all,

I've recently unearthed my first pitbull build and have been playing around trying to make it playable. When I first put it together the neck angle on it seemed incorrect, which resulted in my string action being really high.

I tried to rectify this by carefully sanding down the neck pocket to alter the neck angle thus lowering the strings.

Since doing that the action is far too low (buzzing on open notes) but the neck angle seems to be where it should be.

This is pretty hard to explain as I don't really know all the correct terminology or the normal angles/measurments etc so I hope these photos make it a little clearer to understand what I'm getting at...

This first photo is before I tried to adjust anything.

The following photos are all after I adjusted the neck pocket

I also replaced the plastic nut with a bone one so have attached a photo of that too in case it's too low or something.

Hey man, was the neck dead straight before you made the neck pocket adjustments? It may just be a camera trick but it appears to have a serious up bow in the first pic which would explain the high action. I hope I'm wrong because you may have caused unnecessary damage.

Hi Tim,
its a bit hard to see exactly what the setup is in the photos but ST kits are designed to have a straight neck ie no rake angle unlike a G type guitar with TOM bridge has about a 3 degree angle. You may have needed a shim, or adjust the truss rod or adjust the bridge saddles.
The nut/slots look a little high in the photo.
I suggest you have a read Gavmiester posted a lengthy article on how to set the guitar up. The bridge saddles look too high so they are probably compensating the neck angle.
I've spent a fair bit of time helping Rozza set up his ST-1M he entered in GOTM. Its important the neck heel is well seated in the pocket so any drill shavings or burrs are removed.
Which way is the neck angled when looking from above when its lying flat, up or down ?
Also looks like the neck isn't straight and has up bow/relief (as Barge mentions) so probably needs truss rod adjustment

Thanks for the quick response Barge and Woks. In the first photo the neck is straight. That being said I don't have a notched straight edge so I was just using my eye to get it straight. It does look very bowed, which much be due to the angle I took the photo or something.

Initially the angle was like this (obviously not to the same degree)

The neck, after "fixing" the problem is slightly angled the opposite direction now. Based on what I've already done do you think it would be ok to try and shim the front of the neck pocket to try and make the neck straight?

I also didn't realise that the raked angle didn't apply to ST guitars so I was going for a slight downward angle... That'll teach me to attack these things without first consulting the forums!

Hey Tim,
if the neck is back bowed (bowed the opposite to what you originally had) when tuned up then I'd try a small shim in the front (nut side) of the neck pocket.
If you have a 600mm long rule lye it on the frets should give you an idea if there is relief or up bow.
Then the truss rod may need a small adjustment and saddle heights.
It takes time to set up a guitar really well and the neck needs playing in so be patient.

Have a go at adjusting your truss rod. It might help.

Cheers Wokka, will give a shim a go and see how that goes. The saddles were so high as I really wanted a semi playable action to hear the pickups, was going to try and fix the problem later. Definitely way too high I agree.

Ultpanzi: Cheers for the advice will definitely be adjusting the truss rod once the angle is correct.

Thanks for the help guys :-) Shimmed the neck and now she plays like a dream. Took a bit more setting up afterwards, but there's no fret buzz and the action is relatively low. Will update my 1 and a half year old build diary with some photos and a sound demo tomorrow!

well done Tim sure you have learnt alot out of this setup. next one the tele should be easier !