LH EX-1

[siziemm]

Thanks also, to Scott and Gavin (I hope I've identified you correctly) for the advice on sanding back the heal of the neck before gluing. I have to confess that putting the neck on correctly is the part of the build that I am most anxious about.

Am going to look at the EX1 build diary that is mentioned and see how that went....

Re: the Ashes Cricket debacle (from a Pom's point of view, anyhow) - hmm, the least said the better. Quite used to us losing, but didn't even really put up a decent fight.... and fair credit to the Aussies for playing extremely well!

[Analyst69]

Hi Simon

The Set-necks can seem daunting but these great forum members have awesome advice.

In this thread, about 3/4 of the way down the page is the section written by Gavin (with acknowledgements) on bolt on necks. The principles around positioning are relatively the same. Towards the end of the post is also a video on doing a set neck.

http://www.pitbullguitars.com/?page_...iewtopic&t=302

Worth checking out as it may help prevent any issues.

Cheers

Darren

[Brendan]

Welcome along Simon - great to have another on board!

[siziemm]

Hi. Been quietly getting on with my build over the last five or six weeks. Am now at the stage of gluing the neck on. I seem to have two issues
1) The neck fit seems a bit "loose" ie. there seems to be quite a large gap either at the top or bottom between the neck and the body (it depends which way I move it) it is at east 1mm - will the glue just fill in this gap or do I need to insert some kind of a shim? If so what should I make it out of?
2) and more seriously, even with the saddle on the bridge at its most forward, I can't get the distance between bridge saddle and centre of twelfth fret to be anything like equal to that if the n distance between nut and same point. Neck to centre 12th fret = 312mm. Bridge saddle at most forward position to centre of twelfth fret minimum distance = 318mm
any advice anyone?
I feel both stuck and somewhat worried/disappointed to have got this far and not to be able to go any further without potentially having to really mess up the body to sort the latter problem out, so any help would be greatly appreciated.
Best regards
Simon

[siziemm]

I've attached an overall photo of the guitar plus some shots of the neck gaps on my Ex1 and I have an image of my measurement, just in case anyone needs to verify it - which I can also post, off needs be.
Cheers Simon

[WeirdBits]

The gap either side of the neck heel in the pocket will depend on the final alignment of the neck with regard to the high and low E strings, and 'squaring' the neck to the body. So, it's hard to know what the gap(s) will look like until the neck is aligned with the E strings positioned evenly with good clearance along the fretboard's edge. If you can get it lined up and gently clamped you can then decide if the gap(s) are excessive before glueing. Neck alignment can also potentially impact your scale measurements.

With regard to scale length, Tuneomatic bridges are angled so your closest measurement to scale should be on the high E with the saddle wound forward. So, just to double-check, you are measuring from the fretboard side edge of the nut to the crown/peak (middle) of the wire of the 12th fret, and then from the crown of the 12th fret to the high E saddle (along the line of the high E).




And, this is Gav and Adam showing how to measure scale length on a G-style guitar (it's a right-handed guitar, so you will be checking on your treble side etc)
[embed]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YJTQLLnscgg[/embed]

Post back and we'll see what's what.

[siziemm]

Hi,
Thanks for coming back Scott.
Re the Gap: totally appreciate what you're saying about the neck (and about scale measurement) but even with the neck squared up, there is likely to be a gap on one side or the other. Thing is that I don't really know what constitutes "excessive"and what I might expect the glue to "fill in".
Re the Neck: Yep, I've been measuring exactly as instructed on the video (I was a little shocked by the disparity and so I checked a couple of my other guitars and,having measured them, the distances there are equal as you would expect from the video). Not so my EX1, I'm afraid. As mentioned,am happy to post pictures of my measurements (I've got a long ruler which makes it clear what's what) but as things stand I have everything at it's shortest from bridge saddle using e string's as suggested and I can't get it to be shorter than 318mm as opposed to the distance between the nut and 12th fret crown, which is 312mm.
It makes me think that either the neck pick up needs to be moved back further or the bridge needs to be moved further forward. But I am obviously loathe to do either because the body will then really be messed up.
Any further thoughts anyone??

[WeirdBits]

Regarding the gap at the sides of the neck, I was hoping aligning the neck would show if it will be a large gap on one side or the other or a small gap on each side, depending on how it needed to be positioned. Then you could assess if it is a glue-able gap, a shim-able gap, or a do nothing gap.

For the scale length, my first thought was that the neck pickup may be preventing the neck from seating far enough into the pocket, but I wanted to double-check the measurements before starting to look for a 'cause'. But, you may as well post your measurement pics anyway as you never know what extra eyes may spot that I've missed..

The next step is to remove your neck pickup and see if you can get the neck seated where you want it. And, if that works, then we can look at the possible options for tweaking the pickup's position without messing up your finish. Gav and DB are the experts so they'll be able to provide the best advice.

[siziemm]

Thanks Scott,
AS I recall from yesterday I did remove the pickup, as I thought moving it further back might be the answer, but it seemed to be as far back towards the bridge as I could get it, without having to enlarge the pick up hole backwards. I'll check it out again and come back to you, will post the pictures as well - with and without the pickup in place, so you can see it all for yourself.
Cheers,
Simon

[gavinturner]

Hi Simon,

In terms of the scale length, I have always had success using the Stewmac Fret Position Calculator: http://www.stewmac.com/freeinfo/Fret...-fretcalc.html. It will tell you exactly where the bridge posts should be in relation to the scale length for a tune-o-matic bridge. Might be a convenient way to double check your horizontal neck position. Has always worked for me.

cheers,
Gav.