What is your favourite neck relief ?

[Plendakor]

My curious nature. What is your favourite neck relief ? Do you keep it up to date ? Do you play a crazy 0.012 and blues on it ? What what, tell tell.

I've seen a few people use things like.. "minus 0.008" but hey, they were also trussrodophobics..

For me, 0.006 on my 7 strings (Schecter), 0.002 on my Ibanez RG & 0.008 on my scalloped Jackson

Just asking that as I'm mesuring how's mine since I went B flat and did the fix "by eye" the other day.

 

[abt]

I've never really heard the terminology "minus 0.008" or the likes, I guess you put a straight edge between the firsts and last fret and measure the gap? In inches?

I don't think you can have a favorite set up as it will always be different for instrument to instrument. I always go with the approach, as do most players, to simply set the string height as low as possible without any amplified buzz. Small amount of acoustic buzz are acceptable. Even if the player want higher strings I'd still start hear because you can set the relief that works best to kill the buzz. This way I then raise or lower the string height from the bridge. It's imperative the the nut is correctly cut.

It also varies greatly what type of relief the next has and the neck radius. On Ibanez guitboxes I like the neck dead flat, other guitars I like just a little bit or forward relief. Some guitars the neck itself isn't parallel to the body, like a les paul which angled back. This can lend itself to a slight back bow or just the opposite.

 

[hurdy]

Using a capo or finger on the 1st fret and then fretting where the neck is bolted to the body (17th fret on my schector 7 string, 16th fret on my bass)
I usually measure between 0.3 and 0.5mm using feeler gauges (a tool that measures the clearance between two parts, really cheap to buy from the hardware store)
Use google to figure what that equals to in Inches (as we use the metric system over here in NZ)
These measurements where taken directly from the Ibanez manual and they work great for me

 

[53Crëw]

I've got my guitars set up between .006" and .012" of relief. This seems to be the range I prefer lately.

 

[Plendakor]

I've never really heard the terminology "minus 0.008"

It was just a joke to say backbowed.

Use google to figure what that equals to in Inches (as we use the metric system over here in NZ)

Well I got both systems on my feeler gauges, we use a mix of both in Canada

I usually measure between 0.3 and 0.5mm

That's insane... 0.5mm equals 0.020" so you probably meant 0.05mm (same as on my Ibanez, = 0.002" but didn't know they had that spec lol!)

 

[hurdy]

No i dont mean 0.05mm. I read directly from the manual, 0.3 - 0.5 mm is actually a very small gap if you have a look
BTW 0.05mm would almost be impossible to view with your eye, it would appear to be touching the fret (but actually, it won't be)

 

[Matt-Steele]

I get the neck as straight as possible with the slightest amount of relief. What ever the truss rod will allow for, as long as it's ever so slightly bowing in the proper direction. You also should allow the guitar to set overnight to take to the truss rod adjustment and recheck it, especially new guitars.

I also level the guitar's frets by hand. That's a VERY important process to my set ups, and allows for the strings to vibrate the maximum distance the action will allow for. I used to have a luthier do it for me, but he moved to Texas and now I'm left to fend for myself. A slow and tedius process it is but it's very well worth it when the guitar is precisely set up. Just take your time.

 

[TravisW]

I've never bothered measuring. I eyeball it and say "good enough" at a certain point. I tend to prefer to have a little higher action than a lot of guys - not insanely high, but I really don't like even having any acoustic buzzing. When you think about it, any buzz that you hear means that a fret is interfering with the oscillation of the string, which generally isn't ideal.

 

[Plendakor]

Yeah I don't like it either when it buzz, and only have light buzz if I pick hard on the Ibanez.

About the hand fret leveling, well I'm interested in that, can you devellop a bit ? Do you do it with a block and sandpaper ? I think my acoustic guitar could benefit from that.

And hurdy, according to my calculator and also google, 0.05 millimeters = 0.00196850394 inches and 0.00196 ±= 0.002 so Ibanez got it wrong

 

[hurdy]

And hurdy, according to my calculator and also google, 0.05 millimeters = 0.00196850394 inches and 0.00196 ±= 0.002 so Ibanez got it wrong

Plendakor, reading what you just typed, I think you have typo errors, 0.00196 inches = 0.05 mm rounded to 2 decimal places (not 0.002mm +/-)

HOW do you know Ibanez got it wrong? They have been printing those measurements in their manuals for well over a decade... and you think they have it wrong? Please explain yourself abit more dude
I don't know why your using those measurements (I said 0.3mm and 0.5mm, NOT 0.002mm and 0.05mm). How can YOU decide that a top guitar manufacturer is wrong and their measurements are "insane"?
These measurements came out of the Prestige Ibanez manual, that is one of Ibanez's TOP product lines. Do you really think they would want improper measurements so that their expensive guitars sound like shit? (especially considering the high price tag on these instruments)
Man I just don't get you, explain yourself properly so that we know what your really trying to get to

REMEMBER: Neck relief is measured by pressing the first fret down AND pressing the fret that is nearest to the point where the neck joins the body. Then measuring the gap between the 8th fret and the string (The neck should always have a very slight bow and no buzzing)

 

[hurdy]

I understand that you want to find what works best for you...

But saying Ibanez is WRONG and sum number is about 0.008 higher than what blues players use is just fucking derp shit bro
You don't know what every blues players measurement is! You don't know if Ibanez is wrong! These are YOUR assumptions, don't mislead people over your assumptions
How you know better than Ibanez is just beyond me hahaha good luck with your guitar setup and buzz noise that you get when you play hard

 

[Rex Rocker]

From the Ibanez manual:

Truss rod tension can be measured by installing a capo at the first fret the holding the strings down at the fret position where the neck joins the body. Insert a thickness gauge between the string and the fret at the 8th fret. There should between 0.3mm to 0.5mm clearance.

http://www.ibanez.co.jp/world/manual/guitars/Maintenance.pdf

The ESP manual mentions the exact same.

http://www.espguitars.com/ESP_Owners_Manual.pdf



They both also recommend 1.5mm action on the high E, and 2.0mm on the low E.


True that you can generally get away with slightly lower action and/or relief if the fret job on the guitar is decent, but as far as I know, those measurements are a "standard" mid-action setup, meaning action that's not too high, not too low.


Then again, however, those measurements were meant for E standard and 9's (or 10's), which may not really be the tuning and gauge many of us setup our guitars for.

 

[Plendakor]

Ibanez is not wrong... they give normal specs obviously but I find it a bit high that's all. Not a shredder-type of relief, that's for sure. 0.1mm to 0.3mm in about my boundaries; 0.3mm being my limit (about 0.012"). I always use the inch system with guitars. This said, Ibanez recommends to start where I recommend to end.

Still want to know if others bother to measure or just eyeball ?

 

[schismatic]

Acupuncture

 

[abt]

Haha that's golden!