Neck pocket depth improve sound?
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Lewguitar
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Re: Neck pocket depth improve sound?
No. If you make it to deep you will not be able to adjust the action. It will also make it so the string angle is not very steep behind the saddles at the bridge and that makes for worse tone...not better. Lew
No. If you make it to deep you will not be able to adjust the action. It will also make it so the string angle is not very steep behind the saddles at the bridge and that makes for worse tone...not better. Lew
crazytooguy
New member
Re: Neck pocket depth improve sound?
Yep, Lew's right. But,... making sure the neck is tightly attached to the body will help the sound some. I use threaded inserts in my necks, and attach them to the body with 1/4" stainless machine screws. Much firmer than wood screws, and I think it improves the sound, especially in the low end.
Yep, Lew's right. But,... making sure the neck is tightly attached to the body will help the sound some. I use threaded inserts in my necks, and attach them to the body with 1/4" stainless machine screws. Much firmer than wood screws, and I think it improves the sound, especially in the low end.
bryvincent
New member
Re: Neck pocket depth improve sound?
bolt-on necks should have perfect fit with the body with no gaps.you should not be able to slip even paper where the neck joins the body. my MIM strat had big gaps on the neck pocket you can even slip a credit card on it. i glued the neck filling all the gaps with regular elmers glue and it now sounds way, way better.
bolt-on necks should have perfect fit with the body with no gaps.you should not be able to slip even paper where the neck joins the body. my MIM strat had big gaps on the neck pocket you can even slip a credit card on it. i glued the neck filling all the gaps with regular elmers glue and it now sounds way, way better.
Re: Neck pocket depth improve sound?
that's hte thing I like so much about this little Godin. The neck is very recessed into the pocket as the pups and bridge are recessed into the body of the guitar. It's almost like the body and fretboard are on the same plane. A lot of other guitars, you feel like you have to get the bridge way up above the body just to bring it up to the fretboard. (if that makes any sense)
There is a reason why Seymour's Sig Esquire has that neck pocket a bit deeper.
that's hte thing I like so much about this little Godin. The neck is very recessed into the pocket as the pups and bridge are recessed into the body of the guitar. It's almost like the body and fretboard are on the same plane. A lot of other guitars, you feel like you have to get the bridge way up above the body just to bring it up to the fretboard. (if that makes any sense)
There is a reason why Seymour's Sig Esquire has that neck pocket a bit deeper.
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Neck pocket depth improve sound?
This is true for a Strat. The bridge baseplate is two or three times as thick on a Strat as the stamped steel baseplate of a Tele. So there's a little more distance under the saddles and a little more leg of the ht. adjustment screws
under the saddles of the Tele than for a Strat. So maybe you could deepen the neck pocket of a Tele and still have a little ht. adjustment left to work with. You would NOT with a Strat. The saddles would be laying right on top of the bridge baseplate with no way to lower the action further.
Regardless, most people who've worked on Fender guitars agree that one way to get maximum sustain from a Fender is to increase the string angle behind the saddles. That increases the tension and presses the strings more firmly against the saddles the same way that lowering the stop tailpiece on a Les Paul tends to improve the tone and sustain.
The way to increase the string angle behind the saddles is to install a shim in the neck pocket that RAISES THE NECK OUT OF THE NECK POCKET a little which brings the fingerboard closer to the strings....thus allowing you to raise the individual bridge saddles which increases the string angle behind the saddles.
'59 Teles did not have string through bodies. The strings ara attached to the bridge baseplate. The result is inferior tone compared to a string through body Tele.
Part of the reason for the inferior tone of a '59 Tele is because the string angle behind the saddles is not steep enough.
As for a tight fitting neck and pocket: the most important place where the neck has to be tight is the end of the neck where it presses against the part of the neck pocket parallel to the neck pickup.
A tight fit on the sides is less important...though I prefer to see a tight fit on all three sides.
As for a tight fit under the neck: If you don't have to shim the neck to get the proper string angle behind the saddles then a tight fit under the neck is preferable.
But a shim under the neck to allow you to raise the string saddles to increase the string angle behind the saddles will result in superior tone and sustain than a neck set solidly but to low in the neck pocket to get the proper string angle behind the saddles.
And finally: all this comes down to personal preference.
Lew
Lewguitar said:
This is true for a Strat. The bridge baseplate is two or three times as thick on a Strat as the stamped steel baseplate of a Tele. So there's a little more distance under the saddles and a little more leg of the ht. adjustment screws
under the saddles of the Tele than for a Strat. So maybe you could deepen the neck pocket of a Tele and still have a little ht. adjustment left to work with. You would NOT with a Strat. The saddles would be laying right on top of the bridge baseplate with no way to lower the action further.
Regardless, most people who've worked on Fender guitars agree that one way to get maximum sustain from a Fender is to increase the string angle behind the saddles. That increases the tension and presses the strings more firmly against the saddles the same way that lowering the stop tailpiece on a Les Paul tends to improve the tone and sustain.
The way to increase the string angle behind the saddles is to install a shim in the neck pocket that RAISES THE NECK OUT OF THE NECK POCKET a little which brings the fingerboard closer to the strings....thus allowing you to raise the individual bridge saddles which increases the string angle behind the saddles.
'59 Teles did not have string through bodies. The strings ara attached to the bridge baseplate. The result is inferior tone compared to a string through body Tele.
Part of the reason for the inferior tone of a '59 Tele is because the string angle behind the saddles is not steep enough.
As for a tight fitting neck and pocket: the most important place where the neck has to be tight is the end of the neck where it presses against the part of the neck pocket parallel to the neck pickup.
A tight fit on the sides is less important...though I prefer to see a tight fit on all three sides.
As for a tight fit under the neck: If you don't have to shim the neck to get the proper string angle behind the saddles then a tight fit under the neck is preferable.
But a shim under the neck to allow you to raise the string saddles to increase the string angle behind the saddles will result in superior tone and sustain than a neck set solidly but to low in the neck pocket to get the proper string angle behind the saddles.
And finally: all this comes down to personal preference.
Lew
Last edited:
tone?
New member
Re: Neck pocket depth improve sound?
right on Lew,
i got a callaham Bridge so it should take care of the string pressure at the bridge saddles. the Callaham trem Saddles have a larger opening where the string goes through so there is more of a downward pressure as opposed to the norml fender one which is more angled and also results in more string breaks.
dont you think this covers that problem?
i wont make the pocket deeper since it is the 'perfect' depth. plus i wouldnt want to risk ruining it. it is a one peice Mahogany USAcustomguitars body thats amazing.
right on Lew,
i got a callaham Bridge so it should take care of the string pressure at the bridge saddles. the Callaham trem Saddles have a larger opening where the string goes through so there is more of a downward pressure as opposed to the norml fender one which is more angled and also results in more string breaks.
dont you think this covers that problem?
i wont make the pocket deeper since it is the 'perfect' depth. plus i wouldnt want to risk ruining it. it is a one peice Mahogany USAcustomguitars body thats amazing.
L
Lewguitar
Guest
Re: Neck pocket depth improve sound?
Yeah.,,maybe. If you lower the tailpiece on a Les Paul to far the string will hit the back edge of the TOM bridge and then there's no point in lowering it anyfurther as the string angle will not be increased. Same thing if the string hits the front edge of the slot in the Strat saddle. I've onlt had that happen in one Strat though. It was a '74 that I removed the thick cast one piece bridge/tremol and replaced it with a '62 Reissue bridge. The '74 cast bridge is thicker than the standard '63 Reissue and the enck pocket is shallow to raise the neck to compensate. When I installed the '62 RI bridge I had to replace all the allen screws with longer screws and raise the action way, way up. The strings did come into contact with the slot in each saddles. Couldn't be helped. Lew
Yeah.,,maybe. If you lower the tailpiece on a Les Paul to far the string will hit the back edge of the TOM bridge and then there's no point in lowering it anyfurther as the string angle will not be increased. Same thing if the string hits the front edge of the slot in the Strat saddle. I've onlt had that happen in one Strat though. It was a '74 that I removed the thick cast one piece bridge/tremol and replaced it with a '62 Reissue bridge. The '74 cast bridge is thicker than the standard '63 Reissue and the enck pocket is shallow to raise the neck to compensate. When I installed the '62 RI bridge I had to replace all the allen screws with longer screws and raise the action way, way up. The strings did come into contact with the slot in each saddles. Couldn't be helped. Lew
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