can i change neck angle on a bolt on neck with washers?

[TheForkWigger]

serious question - how can it be done?

[Grant Harding]

Oh - I thought I was in the electric forum.

 

You definitely don't want to put washers right inside the join since it'll leave a gap.

Pretty sure Freeman and others will give you the detail on how to change the angle on one correctly.

[Freeman Keller]

The bolts in a bolt on neck pulls the tenon into the mortise but there is a gap at the end. The thing that actually sets the angle is the contact of the cheeks of the neck heel against the body of the guitar. To change the angle you need to sand or chisel the cheeks. The best way to do it is to put a piece of sandpaper in the gap, press it lightly closed (more on the end that you want to remove) and pull the sandpaper out. The technique is called "flossing" the joint. Do both sides evenly or you'll change the center line of the neck. You may have to deal with the angle of the neck extension which is usually glued down.

 

This applies to almost all bolt on necks with the exception of the Taylor NT neck. In that case the angle is set by two little shims - one in the heel and one in the extension.

 

[Grant Harding]

On a finished guitar do you need to mask the body to avoid scratching the finish?

[Freeman Keller]

Its a good idea to put tape on the body but (1) it makes it harder to pull the sandpaper and (2) it can add some thickness to the body which makes the fit slightly less accurate. If you are careful and roll the outside edge of the sandpaper away from the body it probably isn't necessary.

 

I'm using pretty coarse sandpaper in that picture since its rough fitting the neck, for a reset I would probably use something more like 120 or 180 grit.

 

Also, something that I forgot to mention in the previous post is that by removing material at the heel you will move the neck slightly into the body which will have a slight affect on intonation. Usually on a reset you are removing material on the bottom of the heel (you want to increase the neck angle) so the frets don't really move but on a new guitar like this it is something to be aware of.

[Freeman Keller]

I'll add that setting the neck angle on a dovetail also involves flossing the cheeks of the heel - that is the bearing surface. The dovetail itself applies the holding force just like the bolts do, and again, there is a gap at the end of the tenon.

[Delmont]

No! Don't use washers!

 

On an electric, like a Strat or Tele, just shim the neck. Lots of people do, and it won't change your tone at all. You can probably Google a lot of how-tos.

 

A handy tip: Before taking the neck off, loosen the strings part-way and then capo them. That way you won't have to restring when you're done.

 

And you don't need to tape the body. Those folks are talking about acoustic guitars.

[Freeman Keller]

If it is an electric (Fender style) then almost anything, including washers, would work. My preference is to make a tapered wooden shim that fits the pocket. Usually what I do is put something like a piece of wood or binding material in one end of the pocket, replace the neck, make sure the geometry is correct, then make a shim that thickness at one end and tapering to nothing at the other. I'll use maple if I have it just cause thats what the neck is made out of.

 

It offends me to see a gap between the neck and body and theory says you want a tight interface between them. This can't be a good thing

 

[Delmont]

Washers seemed a little thick to me, but you're the pro. Now I know! Thanks, Freeman.

[Freeman Keller]

I saw a strat a couple of weeks ago that had a piece of metal about 1/8 thick as a shim. It was not tapered, the guy was trying to raise the whole neck in the pocket (I just learned that when a neck is proud of the body it is called "overstand"). Anyway, seemed to work for that guitar.

 

There are geometry things with either an acoustic or an electric that I like to see when I'm evaluating neck angle. With an acoustic I like to see the fret plane (ie a straight edge on the frets) just hitting the top of the bridge, with an electric I like the fret plane to hit the tops of the saddles in their lowest position (works for most bridges except trems). Anyway, I assume the OP knows why he wants to change the neck angle.

 

Going back to the my original picture of the acoustic, it is possible to calculate just how much needs to be removed from the cheeks by taking careful measurements.