Les Paul neck angle??

[MetalManiac]

Re: Les Paul neck angle??

Who gives a crap...if you like the guitar then play it no need to over think stupid crap about the neck angle, fretboard radius, fret size, etc...

If someone doesn't want to buy new Gibsons that's fine, they don't care and neither do we...
!

Obviously people do care. Why bring up anything about not caring about about buying new Gibsons? This issue is about neck angles and the way they are streamlining the process in a negative way in order to cut costs to make guitars that used to be built in the traditional way, which I believe is the proper way.
If your Gibson, you can't win. With the rising costs of production,You have to cut corners to make guitars as affordable as they can be , or people start *****ing about prices going up.
So now, you can buy a Custom Shop for premium price, or pay the same price as usual for a guitar with a less refined neck joint.
By the way, would these be more vulnerable to headstock break?

[FuseG4]

Re: Les Paul neck angle??

No idea what the neck angle is on my LP but I played it before I bought it and it's fine. Would it be better with a different angle? I don't know and don't care. My bridge and tailpiece are fine, same with everything else.

[MetalManiac]

Re: Les Paul neck angle??

. Would it be better with a different angle? I don't know and don't care.

If I find out my Paul has the wrong kind of neck angle, its not gonna sound near as good as it did before.

[ErikH]

I built a LP-based guitar last year and had to calculate the neck angle. It's a complex thing and something that really needs to be done for each individiual instrument because fretboard thickness, fret height and several other things come into the equation. In my particular case, i felt that having the bridge up high would mean less threads contacting the body ferrules so i tried to set the neck in a way that would keep the bridge low to the body while still allowing enough downward adjustment.

4 1/2 degrees was not enough, 5 degrees was too much. I probably ended up with an angle of about 4.7 degrees and it worked out perfect for my guitar. Half a degree can make a lot of difference in height at the bridge.

While i was deep into all this, making full-size drawings, measuring the bridge height, fretboard thickness, fret heights etc., i got thinking about how this would have been if i had to make not one but many guitars like this. After all, fretboard thicknesses could end up varying to some degree due to how much sanding was done, and fret heights could vary once fret dressing was completed. So obviously a compromise would have to be reached as way too much time and effort would be wasted addressing the guitars one-at-a-time.

Following on from that, the bridges would have to be set high enough so that none of them ever found themselves in the position of needing the bridge lowered but the bridge was already as low as it could go. So favouring a slightly high bridge setting would be the only way to ensure that there would always be some downward adjusment room available despite veriables in the geometrical equation.

So it's a compromise to avoid running into set-up problems. In the case of my guitar, it was a one-off and i had the luxury of taking my time and creating the ideal angle that would provide the best transfer of tone into the wood (most of the bridge posts' threads contacting the body) while still allowing the action to be lowered to the point of unplayability.

You make valid points in your case since a lot of hand work was done (and came out fantastic, I might add). With Gibson, all of that is cut using a CNC machine with everything pre-set to cut the same way every time. The fretboard planing is set to be the same thickness every time. It's modern machinery making what used to be a very labor intensive process much more simple. They shouldn't have to change things that much unless there is a valid reason from a design or efficiency standpoint that we don't know about.

[blueman335]

Re: Les Paul neck angle??

Holy ****...a post in which I agree with both TGWIF AND Blueman. The end is nigh.

You know, this will never happen again; savor the moment.

[formula73]

Re: Les Paul neck angle??

You know, this will never happen again; savor the moment.

*raises glass*

[FuseG4]

Re: Les Paul neck angle??

If I find out my Paul has the wrong kind of neck angle, its not gonna sound near as good as it did before.

then don't measure it

[Boogie Bill]

Re: Les Paul neck angle??

In the 50's and early 60's it was different than it was in the late 60's which was different than the 70's and again a change in the 80's...same thing wiht headstock angles...

Who gives a crap...if you like the guitar then play it no need to over think stupid crap about the neck angle, fretboard radius, fret size, etc...

If someone doesn't want to buy new Gibsons that's fine, they don't care and neither do we...

FWIW, Gibson is building some of the best guitars they've built since their golden age IMO and I'm glad to it!

I agree, I don't think it's an issue. If you like the guitar, it doesn't matter.

Bill