Official Luthiers Forum!

I'm about ready to start finishing the L-00 style model that I've been working on, but would like to check my neck angle measurements with the group here before doing so. Here's the story...

My fretboard has a maximum thickness of 9/32". With the neck bolted in position and a straightedge running down the center of the fretboard the point where the fretboard will intersect the front of the bridge is 11/32" above the soundboard. My bridge is 23/64" tall, so that puts my straightedge 1/64" below the height of my bridge. Once I put my frets in I'm thinking this will be just about perfect. Am I thinking correctly? Or should I finesse the neck angle so that my straightedge is just a touch higher?

One other element to the fit that I would like advice on is the fretboard extension. As it sits in the measurements above, there is a 1/64" gap between the fretboard extension and the soundboard. This closes readily with the slightest pressure and I can't see any hump when I do so. Again, my thinking is that this is okay and may actually help maintain a little fall away over the frets in that area. What's the consensus? Am I kooky? Or good to go?

Thanks,

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George :-)

Sounds about right to me. But why not leave your tongue unglued til you string it up? Then you can make any adjustment before committing... Ah the beauty of a bolt on!

A lot depends on how much the guitar moves when strung up. I usually like to have the straight edge clear the bridge between 1/32 and 1/16 before fretting on mine. I've found that when you glue the fretboard extension to the top it stabilizes the neck movement a little so it may not be exactly as it was strung up with the extension unglued.
There's probably a case to be made for setting the neck with a surrogate bridge but not making the real one until the finish is on and the neck attached. You can support the headstock and add 5 or 6 lbs to each shoulder and get an idea how much movement you are really going to get
I've been using a bolted fretboard extension for several years and that pretty much solves the problem as you can adjust at any time.

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It's not what you don't know that hurts you, it's what you do know that's wrong.

The top will rise some under string tension, especially if it's a lightly built responsive top. I set my unfretted FB plane .050" above the bridge.

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I didn't mean to say it, but I meant what I said.
http://www.brackettinstruments.com/

Thanks for the responses. Good to know! I was never sure about measuring with frets in place or without. Now I know and will do a little finessing tomorrow before moving into the finishing phase.

I don't plan to glue the extension until later, but I like to have everything as close as possible before then. I find that the less I have to do after finishing the greater my chances of not scratching, dinging, gouging, scraping or generally messing things up.

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George :-)

I like to do 2 things when setting necks on a new guitar. First , with the fretboard off I like to see about 1/16 to 1/8 inch off the top at the saddle position . With the fretboard I want my straight edge to just clear the bridge. With the frets on I do want to see a 1/16 to 3/32 off the thickest part of the bridge.
In the end I want 1/2 inch string height in front of the bridge. I like about .150 saddle exposed so a .350 bridge and .150 saddle is .500 that is my target . Get it close and you will be fine. I don't like to be more than .180 on saddle height. I will work with a .410 thick bridge to start and once the neck is on the guitar I can do some final tweaking . Here is a link to the tweaking process. http://theunofficialmartinguitarforum.y ... pic/111531

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John Hall
blues creek guitars
Authorized CF Martin Repair
Co President of ASIA
You Don't know what you don't know until you know it

To replicate the fret hieght, use a couple of veneer shims to approx 40 thou .. this gives you a better idea where things lie. Fretted, I too like to see about 50-60 thou of gap to the bridge top

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Tony Karol
www.karol-guitars.com
"let my passion .. fulfill yours"