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I thought I'd check the neck on the guitar even though I don't have the back on yet. The top to side angle is 90 degrees just like Stewmac says it should be. So when I bolted the neck on I was expecting the guitar top and top of the neck to be perfectly (or close) inline with each other. However, the neck has a negative angle. The SM instructions says this situation is rare and something must have been done wrong but as far as I can tell everything was done properly. Oh and the neck top to the bolt side is just shy of 90 degrees so it seems like it suppose to be like this but I just can't wrap my brain around how this is okay.

Anyway, Stewmac says nothing is wrong and continue. Seems to me it would be a lot easier to fix now before the fretboard is glued on. Should I try to fix it now when it would be easy to see everything is lined up or continue on and hope for the best?


Thanks for your help and support!

Tim

I think that what Stew Mac means is carry on and follow the instructions on pages 23 and 24. I wouldn't be overly anxious; you've let them know you have a problem and if it all goes badly then I'm sure they will replace the neck and other necessary parts.
Here's what I would do though. I wouldn't fret the fingerboard yet except maybe at the first and twelth frets so a straight edge can rest on them. Then I'd hold the fingerboard on the neck with tape or cotton while making adjustments to the heel of the neck. What I did to stop my fingerboard moving around was to put two staples in very shallow at the top and bottom of the neck beside the truss rod channel, like a goal post, and nip off the tops leaving tiny pegs that hold the fingerboard in place. They can be pulled out later.
I hope this helps, but I expect someone has a better idea.

Thanks for the suggestions Dave!

Part of me wants to know where I messed up if I did. Usually my screw-ups are pretty obvious! haha At this point I have the guitar building bug pretty bad so I don't want to repeat any mistakes.

If I remove 5/64 from the top of the heel cheeks won't this make my 14th fret be that much closer to the bridge instead of directly over the edge of the guitar? And if we lived in a perfect world (I know we don't!) wouldn't my neck and guitar top be inline right now?

Dave I like your ideas for fretting the first and 12th fret and taping them on. Also, the staple idea is great also. I'm going to continue on since I have more work to do. Hopefully, it'll all work out.

Thanks again!

Tim

the neck angle is 1 1/2 degrees so this is correct. You need to understand that you are setting the neck to mate 3 planes
1 action height
this is the height of the strings off the 12th fret
2 string height at the bridge
here you want to be close to 1/2 inch
3 fret plane
this is the height and the plane created off the top of the frets.

You guitar neck is not square to the body but has to tilt back a bit to get all this geometry to line up.

I don't know if you used a mold or not. The cardboard thing with the stew mac kit is at best iffy. this link will show you how the geometry on the body can be established to assure the proper geometry.

Here is a link to a video for setting the neck for proper action

Thank you for your complimentary comments on my trying to help and I would listen to Tippie as well. The main thing to remember is that you have notified Stew Mac you are worried and if all goes bottoms up I'm pretty sure they'll help you out. I complained about a problem Sunday and got a replacement fingerboard and fretwire today, and I live in England!

I think I would hold off fitting the bridge until you have the geometry right.

The little staple thing works well but it wasn't my idea, another luthiers it was, says Yoda.

Here is an idea that is mine alone, I think. When you are inlaying fret markers most of them are standard sizes. I prefer round fret markers. I trim a piece of dowel and glue a fret marker of the size I am using to each end. Then, as I cut the recess I can easily try a fret marker in position and make adjustments. This should also work for any shape as long as you are willing to buy some fret markers to use. They are cheap anyway and what's a few pennies against a good fit?

PS I've never seen a luthier shop in a half truck so I'm thinking of going one better and buying a double articulated lorry.

Tim,
Tippie is the pro here and you need to listen to him. You picture shows the correct geometry, neck to body. Take a straight edge and lay it on top of the neck shaft out over the top of the guitar. At the approximate location of the bridge saddle, measure up to the bottom of the straight edge. You want about 1/8" here. If you are over that your neck to body angle may have to be adjusted a little bit but you don't need to do anything with that until you are doing a final fit and attachment of the neck.
Is this a bolt on or a dovetail neck? If it is a bolt on then you can wait until the final assembly to do any minor adjustment necessary to the heel cheeks of the neck.
Does this make sense?

Kevin

if you need to contact me PM me and I can give you a phone #

Thanks for all the great responses and tips! John's first post is what I needed. Everything clicked when I read it. My vast building experience includes one Stewmac ukulele, which turned out great. I didn't like the instructions for attaching the neck so I did it before gluing the fretboard on. I got in the mindset that their guitar would be the same (flat/inline neck and body). I don't know why but I just couldn't shake the thought that the guitar would be the same. Tonight I compared the fretboard height to the bridge height. Yep the bridge is taller. Would have saved myself a lot of wasted energy if I would've just compared the two a week ago. Oh well live and learn. I'm doing a lot of learning with all of this.

Thanks again.

Tim

PS. Yes that is my truck in the picture and I do as much as I can on the tailgate. It was kind of a joke at first but I really enjoy it now. Gets me out of the garage and away from all the dust. I like it so much I think my decal will be TailGate instead of my name. lol What do you think?