General Music Chat

Hehe...it's always interesting to add that up. Last band I was in before I moved out of Texas, we had a combined 150 years. I started in 1960 at age 5. That makes it 48 years now. scary thought, that's twice as long as some of the guys you hear on the radio right now have been alive...

But like you I've never ever heard of a perfectly straight guitar neck being right. Always that it has to have a bit of backbow.

O.K. You guys convinced me. I appreciate all the great information you guys took the time to provide.

Thanks!
ST

Sarah, I've been playing guitar since about 1972 or so . . .
In those 35 years or so I have played with and talked to countless musicians and music store owners, and worn out several guitars.
I have never heard that a perfectly straight neck is correct.
Never.
Here's a cut & paste of correct adjustment . . . sorry, forgot where I got this from . . .
---------------
With the guitar tuned to pitch, hold the 3rd string down at the first fret and at the 14th. Look closely at the clearance between the bottom of the string and the top of the 6th fret. For a "normal" or "average" setup, you should see about 0.010" clearance. In other words, look to see if you see enough space between the 6th fret and the string to stick the first string or a playing card between them.
.
But - form your own opinion . . .

You're welcome, it's always good to put misinformation out to pasture. We've just both been doing this for a very long time, and I can see by Rhythm man's posts he's looked up the correct info too, same as I did long ago. So when someone wants to know, or has been misinformed, we try to find a way to set it straight.

But if you haven't already, try the rubber band trick and see it for yourself. Even a string will do, but the rubber band will vibrate long enough you can get a good look.

I will email this person to get his take on the matter.
http://www.doolinguitars.com/intonation ... tion7.html

Just a followup on what this person said, given I got a reply just today. Thought it might be helpful to anyone reading this thread:

Hi Chris,

Interesting questions! The neck should be as straight as possible, but
usually some slight forward bow (or "relief") is needed. That's
because the string vibrates in a long arc that's widest at the
midpoint between the fret and the bridge, so the lowest overall action
is achieved when the neck mimics that arc. The optimum amount of
relief is usually less than .010", and it's not taken into account
when calculating fret position or setting compensation, it's so slight
that it's effect on intonation is negligible.

String height can't be the same all the way up the neck for the same
reason, the neck has to fall away from the string so it has space to
vibrate. So action increases with each fret, see http://www.DoolinGuitars.com/intonation ... tion7.html
. With a little relief in the neck, the strings become more parallel
to the frets the higher up you go, which is why a little relief gives
the best possible action.

The best possible action depends on the instrument and the player.
Lighter gauge strings have more excursion, i.e. the arc is wider, so
they need higher action and more relief. The more acoustically
responsive the instrument, the higher the action needs to be, since
the bridge is moving more with the string's vibration which again
causes more excursion. And, obviously, the harder the player picks the
string, the wider the excursion. And finally, there's just personal
taste in what action feels best. The bigger wound strings have more
excursion than the high plain strings, so the saddle is typically
slanted such that the high e is lowest and each successive string gets
a little higher. On my personal guitars, I start with 1/16" between
the high E and the 12th fret, and 3/32" between the low E and the 12th
fret. That's pretty low, comfortable action.

Then I play up and down the neck, picking notes with equal force, to
see how much fret buzz I'm getting. (You can make any string buzz if
you pick it hard enough! so again this is very much dependent on the
individual player.) If the strings buzz more on the low frets, the
neck is too straight, so I loosen the truss rod a bit to add relief.
If the strings buzz more on the high frets, there isn't enough relief,
so I tighten the truss rod to straighten the neck.

All of this assumes frets that have been leveled and crowned, and nut
slots that have been filed to correct depth (on electric guitars, .
005" - .010" above the first fret height, see http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Nuts,_saddl ... ml#details
toward the bottom under "Final slot height").

That's about it, beyond that it's all subjective and personal taste.
Good luck -

Mike

Agreed.