Measuring neck relief

[PFDarkside]

I've always measured neck relief by using a capo at the first fret, fretting at the last, then adjusting the neck until the low E is just off the 7th fret. Maybe a little more depending on the guitar.

If I wanted to measure this more accurately, what is the proper tool? Feeler gauge? Can I get a cheapie at Harbor Freight or are they not precise enough?

Any other tips for tools or techniques?

 

[trevorus]

Re: Measuring neck relief

With a feeler gauge is the way to do it by the numbers.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Measuring neck relief

Like this?

http://m.harborfreight.com/32-piece...e-32214.html?utm_referrer=direct/not provided

 

[trevorus]

Re: Measuring neck relief

Those will do. Don't let the numbers be a hard, fast rule, though. Go by how it plays, and adjust accordingly.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Measuring neck relief

Relief is the one part of a guitar setup that you don't need tools to measure. Action and in turn radius are done with a ruler based off 12th fret (or 15th, 17th or last fret depending on preference) from the fret top to string bottom in the playing position. Nut height is measured with a ruler or feeler gauges at the 1st fret and ultimately dictated by the height of the first fret. When it comes to relief however the goal is to use as little as possible or none if the guitar and the player (yes it's also player dependent) will work with a perfectly straight neck. Guys with heavy picking hands may need a touch more relief than a person with a light pick attack that uses Jazz picks for example, just like action. Set the neck dead straight and play it, if you're getting any buzzing you either went past straight into back bow or the guitar needs some relief. So give the rod a tiny turn (how big a turn is guitar dependent since some rods and necks react much faster than others) then hold down the low E at the 1st fret and the fret at the body joint (17th usually) and tap on the string around the 7th fret and it should have just a tiny bit of relief at this point and make a little "plink" sound when you tap it. Before with no relief when you do that test the string should be touching the fret with no room to move and make the little "plink" sound (that's a technical term by the way lol). After a while of doing this on guitars you can feel and hear the difference in relief using the 1st and 17th fretting and tapping in the middle method just as well as you can see it. If it's still buzzing anywhere give it a touch more 'til you're happy with it. At a certain point however if you notice you keep adding more and more relief and it's not fixing things then odds are you have fret problems causing your buzz and not relief issues. So, no need to measure since the goal is none to very little based on the guitar and the player.

All that said, of course it can't hurt to measure it if you want and feeler gauges work for it since it should be a tiny amount hard to measure with a ruler.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Measuring neck relief

Yes, I know... I'm going to try to get my various guitars in a similar ballpark, but I want to document where the action, relief and pickup height is before I go digging in.

 

[PFDarkside]

Re: Measuring neck relief

Mike, that's pretty much been my process up to this point, the engineer in me wants to know exactly what that feeling is from a measurement standpoint. And for $5, I think I'll indulge myself.

Thanks guys!

 

[Archer250]

Re: Measuring neck relief

I adjust by sight and feel.

I'm a hard picker, but have good fretwork, so I use a dead straight neck. No relief when the first and 12th or first and 17th frets are pressed, and slight relief when the last fret is fretted.

Sent from my LG-D855 using Tapatalk

 

[Chickenwings]

Re: Measuring neck relief

Once i have set the action for the frets above the body join, i just tighten the truss rod by quarter turns until the frets between 5 and 12 start to buzz, then back it off a quarter turn. your ears are the best gauge out there and the perfect height and relief really comes down to your guitar, strings and individual playing style.

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Measuring neck relief

Mike, that's pretty much been my process up to this point, the engineer in me wants to know exactly what that feeling is from a measurement standpoint. And for $5, I think I'll indulge myself.

Thanks guys!

I know what you mean, I obsess over action and nut height getting them just right but relief I learned is the one moving target from guitar to guitar and almost more so player to player. All my guitars are set up with action within .010" of each other and I'd guess the relief is very similar between them too (as little as needed) but that's the only measurement I never bothered obsessing over. As close to straight as possible but with my playing despite training myself to have a lighter pick attack and using Jazz picks for years I still always need just a hint of relief in my guitars.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Measuring neck relief

If you learn to setup all your guitars by eye/feel and end up in the same exact measured numbers for all of them then I guess you are in the right path.

 

[aleclee]

Re: Measuring neck relief

I adjust by sight and feel.

This.

I used to do the feeler gauge thing but came to the realization that I got better results by getting relief into the ballpark and then fine tuning by feel. IMO, the issue with trying to dial in quantitatively is that the correct value varies based on fret height, fret wear, string gauge, etc. Ultimately, you judge the quality of a setup by they way it feels, not its compliance with some quantitative ideal. At this point, I haven't used a feeler gauge in years.

 

[astrozombie]

Re: Measuring neck relief

I just set it almost perfectly straight.

after that I set the action to 1/16th off the 12th fret.

I heard dan erlewine saying that straight necks have more "tone"

if that means anything to you

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Measuring neck relief

most of my necks have around .010 to .015 relief and the action is around 1.75mm@12fr/6th string.. works for me and have no buzz to speak of

next time i check my neck relief , i will try to feel alone and see what happens

 

[DankStar]

Re: Measuring neck relief

FYI - those gauges are covered in oil to the point of dripping.

 

[Brandenburg]

Re: Measuring neck relief

FYI - those gauges are covered in oil to the point of dripping.

thats why you gotta wipe them off first.. lol yea.. they do have alot of oil on them

 

[greekdude]

Re: Measuring neck relief

FYI - those gauges are covered in oil to the point of dripping.

lol, you can save some for the fretboard (kidding)

 

[DESERTRAT1]

Re: Measuring neck relief

Depending on the guitar all of mine are set between .010 and .012. Rather than using the string as a reference I use a strait edge and feeler guage on the frets themselves.

 

[Kamanda~SD]

Re: Measuring neck relief

I used my guages about twice...all eyeball and feel for me.

 

[HotHead]

Re: Measuring neck relief

I always hear about people using capos at certain frets, and using feeler gauges, waiting until a full moon so the gravity is at its maximum, etc. I don't do that. I simply place one finger at the first fret of the low E, and another finger on the last fret of the low E and just eyeball it. I like my neck with a bit of a bow, so one thing I do is when I have my fingers down, I pluck the string to see if it sounds. When there's enough room for the string to vibrate uninterrupted in between my fingers, that's when I have my ideal bow.