Customer Query - Neck

[adam]

Forum people, we've had this post to Facebook and I thought I would move it to here to get your thoughts:

"Ok, I'm having trouble with my neck on an lp1. I've done the measurement from the nut to the 12th and it's 313mm, when I did the measurement from the 12th to the saddle it's 316mm and I cannot shorten it any more as the neck is in all the way. Any ideas? And how much will this affect it?"

Nick Cass.

Any thoughts on Nick's best course of action?

[Gavin1393]

This may not actually be a problem as you need to compensate for string height and thickness at the saddle. I use a specially made jig which measures the distance from the 12th fret to the nut, which you then swing around 180 degrees and measure to the bridge with two markers that extend beyond the measurement by approximately 3mm to compensate for string height above the frets!
When you fret a string somewhere along the fretboard, you actually sharpen that string’s pitch by a tiny amount. To compensate for this, each string is made a little bit longer than the instrument’s actual scale length, thereby ‘flattening’ its pitch. The amount that each string is made longer (flattened) depends on that strings size – thin strings not much and getting progressively more as the strings get thick....

I'm going to go for the obvious. That's normally a good place to start.

Adam, how do those measurements compare to yours?

The nut to 12th fret is correct. So for the 12th fret to bridge:

Where is he measuring to? Is he measuring to the centre of the bridge between the 3rd & 4th saddle? Where abouts on the fret is he measuring from?

Is his bridge the right way around? Yes, I am serious (and stop calling me Shirley).

Is he measuring on the plane of the fretboard so he's not losing distance by having his measuring stick droop? (meaning the straight line of the fretboard continues up to the bridge). Is the bridge wound up on the studs to roughly playing height?

As Gavin said, a couple of mmm isn't a whole lot to worry about. If I was building it, 3mm would be approaching a bit much for my comfort.

(I've goy some numbers in my head which I'm guessing are wrong, but a correctly intonated LP is about 1/32" long on high e, and about 1/8 long on low E which is why the bridge is angled. Don't quote me on those numbers. I'll try and find them when I get my new reading glasses.)

If I had to pick one thing, I'd concentrate on the bridge, not the neck.

One thing he must be careful of. As he winds the saddles back and forth to get intonation, the strings cannot touch anything on the bridge except the saddles. If they run on anything else, you've got an earful of crap coming out of your speakers.

[dingobass]

I had a similar problem with my LP.
The stud holes were defiantly out by 3 mm. Or so I thought...

Dmac and Adam will probably wnt to reach through their computor screens and slap me around the head, but I trimmed 3mm off the end of the neck.
BAD MOVE!, but I am so used to building Basses and have not encountered this before, so I used boy logic and was wrong! :P

When I later assembled and went to intonate, the saddles on the bottom 3 strings had to be wound right back, and it still wasn't right. :?

I had to turn the saddles around to rectify the problem.... slap me again....

So I am guessing that there is not a problem with the length at all.. it is just one of those things that seems to be a problem until you put it all together.

[Gavin1393]

Quote from dingobass on November 6, 2012, 23:08[/b]
I had a similar problem with my LP.
The stud holes were defiantly out by 3 mm. Or so I thought...

Dmac and Adam will probably wnt to reach through their computor screens and slap me around the head, but I trimmed 3mm off the end of the neck.
BAD MOVE!, but I am so used to building Basses and have not encountered this before, so I used boy logic and was wrong! :P

When I later assembled and went to intonate, the saddles on the bottom 3 strings had to be wound right back, and it still wasn't right. :?

I had to turn the saddles around to rectify the problem.... slap me again....

So I am guessing that there is not a problem with the length at all.. it is just one of those things that seems to be a problem until you put it all together.

Consider yourself slapped!!!

Damn! Busted my ipad screen!

[dingobass]

Thanks Gavin, I deserved that!

We live and learn, and as we learn we discover that when you think something aint right, ASK SOMEONE THAT KNOWS WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!!!!!!

Oh well, one thing is for certain, I won't ever go off half cocked again!, Especially when there is advice available right here from people that know what they are doing....

Can't wait for the Bass kits to arrive. Then I will be totally in my element

[Gavin1393]

Me too DB, a Fender Precision or Jazz will be just the thing! I have been hanging onto some oversized pickups for this build in anticipation!

[dingobass]

Quote from Gavin1393 on November 7, 2012, 16:41
Me too DB, a Fender Precision or Jazz will be just the thing! I have been hanging onto some oversized pickups for this build in anticipation!

I did hear a rumor about there being a Beatle Bass in the wings.... Noice!

[Gavin1393]

Quote from dingobass on November 7, 2012, 17:38

Quote from Gavin1393 on November 7, 2012, 16:41
Me too DB, a Fender Precision or Jazz will be just the thing! I have been hanging onto some oversized pickups for this build in anticipation!

I did hear a rumor about there being a Beatle Bass in the wings.... Noice!

In that case I hope Adam has ordered two!! I'll kindly concede the first one to you!

[adam]

Quote from Gavin1393 on November 7, 2012, 19:44

Quote from dingobass on November 7, 2012, 17:38

Quote from Gavin1393 on November 7, 2012, 16:41
Me too DB, a Fender Precision or Jazz will be just the thing! I have been hanging onto some oversized pickups for this build in anticipation!

I did hear a rumor about there being a Beatle Bass in the wings.... Noice!

In that case I hope Adam has ordered two!! I'll kindly concede the first one to you!

Yep, I ordered a few of the Hofner style kits. These will be due mid-December.