Net set angle and measurments

[Omar_8200]

Need some help finding the 'best' neck set angle for a dreadnaught neck.

I am working on a mortise and tenon neck set on a Martin D 18 Kit from Blues Creek and have been using Bill Corey's instructions on neck angle in combination with from Robert O'Brian's steel string building DVD.

The fretboard is attached to the neck and the fretted. My bridge is 11/32" in the middle. And the neck extended off of the top of the frets is 1/32" above the bridge. This results in a line extended from the top of the frets to the bridge location at 3/8".

Does this sound like a good place to stop fiddling with the neck angle? Anyone have any suggestions or know what the Martin specs are for this measurement? I don't have a Martin around to put may straight edge against and don't think that the guitar store would appreciate me bringing a straightedge into the store!

My experience with mandolins is that there is about 1/8" of range within which the instrument sounds good. Too high and the action on the upper frets is terrible, but the mandolin is loud and active. Too low and the mandolin looses all punch and volume.

Thanks in advance for the help.

[tippie53]

with the frets on the straight edge should be about 1/16 off the top of the bridge. That will get you in the ball park. If you are 3/8 off the top with the straight edge you can thin the bridge a touch.

[Ben-Had]

with the frets on the straight edge should be about 1/16 off the top of the bridge. That will get you in the ball park. If you are 3/8 off the top with the straight edge you can thin the bridge a touch.

Wouldn't you work the cheeks at this point to get the correct angle?

[tippie53]

You have to careful that you don't over set the neck . That can overstress the top. If you have a nice straight line coming on the top and from the picture , his straight edge appears to be just touching the bridge . Martin uses a number of bridge thicknesses so with a 3/8 clearance off the top at the front of the bridge , and you add 1/8 in for saddle exposure he is very close.
Yes you can , if you can control that just tweak the cheeks for a 1/16 clearance off the bridge.

[David L]

Hope you don't mind me piggy backing on your thread Omar but I'm confused about these reference locations. When I lay a straight edge on the frets and then slide it aft toward the bridge I have to lift the bridge end of the straight edge up slightly and set it back down on the bridge, this leaves a small gap between straight edge and the last fret, gap is a little less than 1/32". Am I OK or do I need to address this in some manner?

David L

[David L]

Using feeler gauges the gap measures right at 22 thousandths.

David L

[Kevin Sjostrand]

David,
A couple of things. One, you probably want a little extra string clearance over the frets on the fretboard extension... a little fall off they call it to help there not to be sting buzzing going on there with hard strumming, but it looks like you are low at the bridge in any case. Your action will end up too high, and the result might be to get a saddle that is barely above the bridge to get an acceptable action. Like John said, you may be able to just shave enough off the top of the bridge if you are thick enough there to do so. If you are under 3/8" already, I would not take anymore away here. It actually looks like your neck angle does need a little increase, which means taking some material off the heel end of the cheeks. It won't be much, but you need to have that straight edge about 1/16" over the bridge for a situation to set the action and have some play room in the adjustments.

Kevin

[Tony_in_NYC]

Yeah! What Kevin said.
If you leave the angle as it is, you won't have hardly any saddle left once you set the action. Then, down the line, what would have required a simple saddle adjustment to lower the action is going to now require a neck reset. Adjust your angle now. It wont take much. It looks like your guitar is finished already so sanding the area of the upper bout where the neck cheeks sit is out of the question, so I would floss the cheeks. If you put the sandpaper between the cheeks and the body, then pull down, it will fix your angle in no time. Trying to do it while the neck is completely off the body will make this much more difficult.
Good luck!

[johnnparchem]

Here is my 2 cents ...

I find it interesting that it looks like all but the last fret is touching the ruler. Is there just a bit more fall off toward the sound hole? You may be OK.

If you think you need to change and the fret board is glued to the body I would first check the action and saddle height before doing anything. You may be OK for a bunch of years before needing a neck reset.

If you want to adjust it and the fret board is glued to the body you can still do what Tony says; Ken posted an entry on flossing the heel while the fret board still glued.