Neck Fitting

[turnertj]

Okay, I know this topic has been discussed a MILLION times, including the topic right before this one...but I'm just dumb enough that I'm not grasping it. So please bear with me...it's my first time!

Anyway, in fitting a neck, do you guys do it with the fretboard on or off? If the fretboard is on, do you do it with the frets installed? Is the saddle in the bridge when you measure the clearance? Also, I'm fighting a small fallaway in my soundboard under my fretboard extension. Should I push the fretboard flat to the soundboard to shoot the angle with a straight-edge, as if it were glued to the soundboard? Or do I project the straight edge along the neck axis? And finally, what clearance at the bridge am I shooting for? I know that may depend on my bridge, saddle, etc... but I've seen plenty of info out there that ranges from some great formulaic approaches to absolute values like 5/32".

Thanks guys...you all rock!

Tj

[tippie53]

I do the initial fit without the board on.
here is a link
http://www.youtube.com/results?search_q ... l0.1.1l2l0

[tippie53]

the key to this process is that you create the proper geometry on the sides prior to gluing the top. Yes I do set the neck before gluing the fretboard. With no fretboard you want the height off the straight edge to be . .090 +/- .030
with the fretboard no frets you want to be about .375 and with the frets you would like to be .060 above the bridge.
The pitfalls is that you need to keep the area of the fretboard extension as flat as possible. Think that you are reverse engineering to the point of the string height at the bridge. If you miss this mark you can have too high a set that can over torque the top or under set and not get the total energy on the top that you need for the best tonal and volume