Neck Angles

[Ratae Corieltauvorum]

Can anybody explain why there is a pitch needed for the neck on certain bodies whiole some retain parallelness between the frets and the body surface. Is it the choice of bridge that influences this?

[B Money]

yes.

[aero90]

Some bridges sit higher off the body, so the neck must be angled to get the action more uniform along the length of the neck. An example is the Gibson tune-o-matic. The saddles are high off the body so the neck is angled. A strat bridge is flatter so the neck isn't angled. A non-recessed Floyd needs an angled neck, while a recessed one does not.

[dabbler]

The neck angle is was initially a design feature of archtop acoustic guitars. In order to improve the acoustic coupling between the strings and the guitar body (which is where the sound gets made) the designers wanted the downforce through the bridge to the body to be fairly high. The easiest way to do this is to have the bridge sit fairly high so that it is really forced down by the strings. In order to keep the action reasonable, as has already been stated, this requires the neck to be angled.

When Gibson entered the electric market, they simply carried over most of the archtop features into their Les Paul. It matters less in an electric than in an acoustic, but still probably has an effect. I actually kind of like the way it makes the neck fall into your hand.

This downforce thing is also why acoustic headstocks are angled. And yeah, Gibson brought that feature over too, unlike Fender, who didn't know any better.

[angus_old]

Leo was such a butthead