Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Will Carter on September 9, 2009 at 8:24pm

If the neck is to remail a single piece going thru the box, then the only way I can think of would be to taper the cutaway to allow the end of the guitar to be lower than the front (where the neck joins the body).

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Permalink Reply by jim on September 9, 2009 at 9:24pm

neck throughs and neck angles can be made only if you start with a thick piece of wood stock. I do something like a bolt on. screw to a piece of hard wood in the box under the neck. Then angle the neck and screw through through the tail.

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on September 10, 2009 at 1:14am

I pretty much always have a zero fret for my nut, and an applied fingerboard is the way I get the action low enough. This works better for some boxes than for others.

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Permalink Reply by Mortimer Snerd on September 10, 2009 at 3:50am

One way to lower the headstock end of the neck is to remove material off the top side of the tail stock under the lid of the box.

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Permalink Reply by Wichita Sam on September 10, 2009 at 12:40pm

I wonder if you have a problem other than design.... most of my neck thru CBGs are "fast" all the way down the neck... (0* neck angle is implied with a neck thru design unless you work at it). The only way to have a too high action on a neck thru is to have a too high bridge... unless you have a neck that is bowing (or warped) toward the box. If that is the case, any design will have action that is pretty much unplayable down the neck...

I could be wrong, but check it out...

the best,

Wichita Sam

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Permalink Reply by Starfish, darling on September 11, 2009 at 4:02pm

Do you have a formula to determine that angle?
Mortimer Snerd said:

One way to lower the headstock end of the neck is to remove material off the top side of the tail stock under the lid of the box.

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Permalink Reply by Starfish, darling on September 11, 2009 at 5:05pm

Thanks! I have a neck (two, actually) that I may be able to salvage by applying this idea to it. I experimented with a theory that ended up removing too much wood - long story - and the neck wanted to bow. I stabilized it with two hooks and a turnbuckle on the back of the neck inside the box, but the action is still too high. Oh, I'm making a new neck for this one tomorrow, but I'll be damned if I'll let this first neck defeat me! I will prevail! Or I'll build a cigar box ukulele out of it. Ha! As for the profile pic, it was too low-res. I may replace it with a higher-res version.
Ted Crocker said:

Start at 3.5 degrees with a standard bridge height.


(liked the first profile pic, darling...)

Starfish, darling said:

Do you have a formula to determine that angle?


Mortimer Snerd said:

One way to lower the headstock end of the neck is to remove material off the top side of the tail stock under the lid of the box.

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Permalink Reply by Dave V on September 11, 2009 at 6:41pm

Do you have pictures? If it's a through neck, the only thing I can offer is that the action is affected by the height of the neck above the box (dependent on whatever relief you cut into it) or the saddle height. I had good luck making the neck flush with the body and exactly parallel, with the only height offset being the fretboard on top of the neck. A straightedge on the frets was used to insure the neck was parallel to the body before gluing. Granted, mine wasn't a through body design, but that's how I did it, and technically I should have had a tougher time than you getting the neck angle right.

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