I'm not one for mincing words, how is this lined up & fitted what ever it is?
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post178961
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I'm not one for mincing words, how is this lined up & fitted what ever it is?
https://www.buildyourownguitar.com.a...l=1#post178961
You see your profile picture? It's got one of them on it. A string retainer bar. It's just a slightly different shape to the Fender one. Used to pull the strings down nearer the headstock face to get a good break angle over the nut.
Hope that helps. :D
I see, is there an ideal position??
https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7830/...f847956f_z.jpg
I'd suggest you look at where Fender put it to start with, though their truss rod access hole is much further back towards the nut than the kit's one, so I can't see any particularly great place to put it where you don't have to remove it to adjust the truss rod. But with your test string on, I'd see how far forward you could locate it so that you can access the truss rod without pulling the strings down so far that they catch that ridge at the end of the fretboard.
It may pay to sand the neck-to-headstock-face curve back a bit more, so there's a bit less flat wood in front of the nut.
Other people have made these kits, so it's worth searching for their builds diaries and looking at what they've done.
I’ve tried to find them but I’m think I’m using the wrong g search terms ?? I’m not getting any hits. Thanks for advice thought I’ll keep looking & reaserching
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On my TLA-12 build I put it between the E & A pairs to between the B & E pairs. This gives a good break angle to the pairs of A, D, G and B while the two E pairs already have a good angle due being so close to the nut.
I fitted it after the guitar was fully strung as I didn't want the two screws fouling against any of the strings.
The choice of position is entirely up to you. The only reason the bar is there is to eliminate that 'Sitar buzz' sound from some strings that may occur when there is poor string pressure against the nut with the strings at full tension. On my TLA-12 build it was only the 2nd G string (the thin one) that buzz'd...
Thanks marcel great advice.
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I was pretty fortunate in that during my mock build everything lined up quite well, so definitively finding the centre line became almost redundant.
The neck fit on mine is quite snug, and positioning of the bridge PU in the middle of the routed hole was very close to ideal for intonation range and centring of my test strings over the neck. Only issue I had was in maintaining clearance around the bridge PU in the hole caused the entire bridge to be twisted slightly clockwise, so some slight enlargement of the hole was required. Enough was removed so that with the bridge assembly in the correct position the PU height could be adjusted without hindrance from the body.
If I were to establish a "centre line" then first I would loose fit the neck into the body and have it feel comfortably in the middle of its range of movement. Then I would use a 1m ruler placed down the centre of the neck and extend a line from there. For me the centre of the neck is most important and all parts of the body are only extensions from that line the runs down the middle of the neck.
If the PU routes are too far off that line then work needs to be done to either reposition the neck or the routes to be closer together along the same line. Remember that the "centre line" is your line that you are building off, so (within reason) you need to place it where you need it to be.
Thanks again for getting back to me, yeah i'm trying to get my head around how to find the centre line before i drill into the neck. it all looks good to me? I was assuming if i measure either side of the neck i could use that as the centre, does that work for the body?? i don't know. thanks again.
I see it this way. The body does not have a centre line. Only the neck has a centre line that is extended by the builder to cover the body. Any line used for centring on the body, and used for assembly in a neat row the parts on the body, needs to be in line with the neck centre line. By moving the neck back and forth (up and down when in the playing position) the neck centre line can be aligned better with that assembly line on the body, however if the two cannot be overlapped then adjustments need to be made to the body assembly centring line so that the two lines overlap.. It is your job as the builder to decide what if any adjustments need to be made in both neck position and to items fitted to the body so that all are 'in line'.
In my case I considered that the location of the bridge was of paramount importance relative to the neck. Those two had to line up perfectly, with aesthetic considerations dealt with as best as possible. The bridge must be the correct distance from the nut and 12th fret for intonation reasons. The bridge must be on the neck centre line so the strings are neatly aligned over the fretboard. So in reality there is only one place the bridge can be relative to the neck, hence the issue is finding that one spot on the body when the neck and body are together and making it work. I took the view that the body itself and pickups and pick guard are of almost secondary consideration when compared to bridge and neck positioning....
The neck centre line is a virtual line that runs lengthways down the middle of the fret board. Easiest way to bring this out is measure and mark a mid point on the nut (between the D and G strings), and measure and mark a mid point on the fret board at the heel of the neck, then draw a line between those two measured points and then extend that line out over the body. .. Typically, if the neck was constructed correctly, the neck centre line will traverse across the middle of all the single marker dot inlays on the fret board, and be directly over any truss rod adjustment point, and when the guitar is fully assembled will by extension go through the mid point of the bridge.
great stuff thanks Marcel