Consistent action through all the fretboard: ANGLED NECK

juanpmoran

juanpmoran

Inspired
The issue with fender or Ibanez is that reaching the 15 th fret the action increases dramatically because of the non angled neck, TOM guitars (les paul, esp horizon...) have an angled neck, i wonder if anyone knows a guitar with fender bridge and an angled neck, and if theres not why.

THX a lot
 
bff698c3b4d4a521224caeece07827a0.jpg
thats what im talking about, compare the straight body angle with the angled neck
 
I've never had a Fender with that problem. Neck angle is altered to compensate for the tall bridges. Arched top guitars and guitars with tall brides like non-recessed tune-o-matics require an angled neck. Strat and tele bridges are very low to the body, so this angle is not required. If your action is inconsistent up the fretboard, that means your neck is possibly warped or your setup is all wrong. Check your neck relief and bridge height. Check the neck against a straight edge.
 
Looking at the picture is starting to hurt my neck!
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I was to understand the height of the "action" or string height, has mostly to do with the scale of the musical instrument.
Long scaled instruments need higher action because the strings swing around in bigger circles that little guitars like a Les Paul.
 
mr_fender said:
I've never had a Fender with that problem. Neck angle is altered to compensate for the tall bridges. Arched top guitars and guitars with tall brides like non-recessed tune-o-matics require an angled neck. Strat and tele bridges are very low to the body, so this angle is not required. If your action is inconsistent up the fretboard, that means your neck is possibly warped or your setup is all wrong. Check your neck relief and bridge height. Check the neck against a straight edge.
Click to expand...

If you turn the picture so you're viewing it straight on, you can tell that the bridge is indeed higher than i'd want. So yeah that makes sense. I never had a guitar like this with the neck doing that and I wouldn't like it myself looks goofy haha.
 
I'm not a Luthier but common sense tells me that if you take out the shim under the neck joint and lower the bridge you are left with the same string height over the frets. As long as the neck relief is set right along with the right bridge height you should be able to set the string height as low as possible.

I always thought that a LP had to have an angled neck because of the shape the top has.
 
Yep. Action is determined mostly by bridge height and a bit with neck relief. Neck angle is changed when the bridge can't be lowered any further. It's all a bit of a balancing act and it also depends on string gauge, scale length, tuning used, etc.
 
Neck angle has no bearing on string action. Those guitars angle the neck due to bridge height. Some modern builders recess the TOM eliminating the need for a neck angle.
 
There's no way to have a constant string action on whole neck length, regardless of guitar construction (straight or angled neck). It's a matter of physics - read some about string's vibrating amplitude and you'll find out why.

OK... theoretically there's one way to achieve that - you could set the action at the nut at the same height as on 12th fret, but I wish you many luck and terminator-like grip when playing on lower frets ;)
 
Some manufacturers do that so that a non-recessed trem can float, it doesn't improve the action. I saw a video once of stewmac's Dan Erlewine dressing frets using fall away. This works by having the highest fret a few thousandths lower than the 12th to 15th fret with an even taper between the two points. It makes sense because at that point you are getting past the neck relief area but the string has less & less travel as you play up the neck.
 
Yeah because of the thicker neck heel, you don't get the smooth curving relief bow that the rest of the neck has under tension. The upper frets stay totally flat and can sometimes end up a tiny bit closer to the strings than the middle of the neck depending on how the truss rod is set and how low the bridge is set. Fall away compensates for this and gives a tiny bit higher string action at the upper frets.
 
So i was completly confused.

Correct me if im wrong, so the two facts that afect string action are:

Radius ( the higher the radius the flatter is the fretboard so the action could get lower)

Scale lenght as stated above.

So neck angle and the tipe of bridge dont affect string height
 
i´ve got my warmoth in the luthier, now the fretboard is completly flat (infinite radius) i´ll tell you guys how this turns out... may be is a disaster

IMG-20150106-WA0007.jpg
 
Angled neck does not affect string action, which is determined by scale length, but should affect surface pression on neck/body joint and thus potentially transmission from neck to body. But to what degree ? I don't have a clue. Any physician in the Lounge ?
 
When properly setup, the nut and bridge control the action.

A warped neck or improper truss rod adjustment can cause inconsistent height from string to fret.

Uneven frets can cause some notes not to ring, or "fret out", when they are too high.
 
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