10-16 compound radius action

[laney]

Will i be able to get the action on 1 10-16 inch compound radius neck as low as a regular straight 16 inch neck?

I have an old ibanez with a 16 inch neck with an effortless low action, i would love to replace the neck on my tele with a warmoth and get a similar action.

Any thoughts?

 

[Cagey]

Yes. Not only just as close, but the whole thing will play easier. It's not a pronounced difference in feel, but you will likely get to where you actually prefer it. I know people who don't have compound necks and won't out of some misplaced fear of change, but I don't know anybody who has them that doesn't not only like them, but actually prefer them. It's a better design.

The only time I'm not happy about a compound radius neck is when installing stainless steel frets. Stainless fretwire is very stiff and doesn't bend easily, so it won't conform to a radius just by hammering it in like nickel-silver frets will. You have to pre-radius the wire for nearly every fret, which is a major league pain in the shorts. With a straight radius neck, you get your bender set up for the proper radius, run ~4 feet of wire through it and you're done.

Luckily, stainless fret installations are typically one-time deals. They don't wear like nickel-silver, so you install them and you're done forever.

 

[stratamania]

There is no reason why not the compounds I have set up with just as low of an action as the Ibanez guitars I used to have.

Bear in mind Warmoth installs frets but does not finesse them. A lot of folks find them playable out of the box but if you want the best out of them a light level, crown and polish may be needed.

 

[AirCap]

Will i be able to get the action on 1 10-16 inch compound radius neck as low as a regular straight 16 inch neck?

That's the whole fricking point of a compound radius...

 

[rgand]

I bought my first Warmoth 10-16 radius neck based solely on what I had read on this forum. I was not disappointed at all. In fact, I now prefer the compound radius. I have a nice, low action all the way along the neck. Each string is still a straight pull along the neck because the radius change is constant. You adjust the saddles to include the compound radius, too.

 

[laney]

Thanks for the replies guys.

This is all good news to me, it's a lot cheaper to get a 10-16 already in stock than go the custom road and get a straight 16 or higher.

 

[hchoe741]

I ordered a neck with straight 16" radius about two weeks ago. I know that one of the purposes for the compound is easier chording in the lower register and lead playing in the higher, but I've owned guitars with straight 9.5", 10", 12", 16" radius, and classical guitars with no radius, and I personally like 16" for both chording and soloing. If you like the ibanez necks for soloing but find that playing open chords is more comfortable on say a strat, then the compound is for you.

 

[hchoe741]

Yes. Not only just as close, but the whole thing will play easier. It's not a pronounced difference in feel, but you will likely get to where you actually prefer it. I know people who don't have compound necks and won't out of some misplaced fear of change, but I don't know anybody who has them that doesn't not only like them, but actually prefer them. It's a better design.

The only time I'm not happy about a compound radius neck is when installing stainless steel frets. Stainless fretwire is very stiff and doesn't bend easily, so it won't conform to a radius just by hammering it in like nickel-silver frets will. You have to pre-radius the wire for nearly every fret, which is a major league pain in the shorts. With a straight radius neck, you get your bender set up for the proper radius, run ~4 feet of wire through it and you're done.

Luckily, stainless fret installations are typically one-time deals. They don't wear like nickel-silver, so you install them and you're done forever.

So does warmoth pre radius their ss frets for straight radius necks, but not for compound?

 

[Cagey]

They have to. You literally cannot just hammer a straight SS fret into a radiused fretboard. It won't bend to match the radius. Or, to be more accurate, it won't stay bent. Acts sorta like a spring. You hit one side, the other side pops up. Hit the other side, the first side pops back up. If it pisses you off and you keep trying anyway just to teach it a lesson like some sort of deranged Three Stooges character, you'll just tear up the fret slot. Stainless fretwire is very stiff.

But, when you have a constant radius for the length of the neck, it gets easier because once your bender is adjusted for the radius, you can run all the wire through at once.

Then you can just cut a section slightly wider than the neck, hammer it in, and move on to the next one. Keep doing that until the whole thing is fretted. With a compound radius, you have to bend each fret to fit.

 

[hchoe741]

They have to. You literally cannot just hammer a straight SS fret into a radiused fretboard. It won't bend to match the radius. Or, to be more accurate, it won't stay bent. Acts sorta like a spring. You hit one side, the other side pops up. Hit the other side, the first side pops back up. If it pisses you off and you keep trying anyway just to teach it a lesson like some sort of deranged Three Stooges character, you'll just tear up the fret slot. Stainless fretwire is very stiff.

But, when you have a constant radius for the length of the neck, it gets easier because once your bender is adjusted for the radius, you can run all the wire through at once.

Then you can just cut a section slightly wider than the neck, hammer it in, and move on to the next one. Keep doing that until the whole thing is fretted. With a compound radius, you have to bend each fret to fit.

Huh so why do they charge more for straight radiuses? That's odd

 

[mayfly]

well, they do charge more for SS frets.  And they might have it all tooled up with several radius jigs as well.  They do this kind of thing all day long so they probably figured out clever stuff to make it happen faster.

 

[Cagey]

They don't charge more to fret straight radiused necks, they just charge more for straight radiused necks. That's likely because it takes the neck out of the normal production stream. Any time you have special handling, it adds time to the job and that has to be compensated.

 

[hchoe741]

They don't charge more to fret straight radiused necks, they just charge more for straight radiused necks. That's likely because it takes the neck out of the normal production stream. Any time you have special handling, it adds time to the job and that has to be compensated.

Ok that makes sense

 

[fdesalvo]

Thanks for the replies guys.

This is all good news to me, it's a lot cheaper to get a 10-16 already in stock than go the custom road and get a straight 16 or higher.

An older 540SLTD had me going down the same thought path as yourself.  I was going to spec out a similar neck from W, but went with compound radius due to the ease of use with a floyd setup. 

 

[laney]

Thanks for the replies guys.

This is all good news to me, it's a lot cheaper to get a 10-16 already in stock than go the custom road and get a straight 16 or higher.

An older 540SLTD had me going down the same thought path as yourself.  I was going to spec out a similar neck from W, but went with compound radius due to the ease of use with a floyd setup.

My old ibanez was also a 540, effortless playability but i went off the locking trem.

How did the 10-16 work out for you?

 

[fdesalvo]

Thanks for the replies guys.

This is all good news to me, it's a lot cheaper to get a 10-16 already in stock than go the custom road and get a straight 16 or higher.

An older 540SLTD had me going down the same thought path as yourself.  I was going to spec out a similar neck from W, but went with compound radius due to the ease of use with a floyd setup.

My old ibanez was also a 540, effortless playability but i went off the locking trem.

How did the 10-16 work out for you?

I'll let you know - it's arriving today, but I'll have to dye/finish it first.  I had a CR Warmoth neck on a guitar with a TOM bridge and was able to get the action reasonable low despite the variance 6.5" discrepancy in radius at the bridge. 
I've got my Gotoh 1996T shimmed up to about 18", so I should have a better experience this time around.

 

[Steve_Karl]

but I don't know anybody who has them that doesn't not only like them, but actually prefer them. It's a better design.

You might know one now.

My first 2 warmoths are compound, and I 'do' like them, but I don't have enough experience yet to be able to say I prefer them.

My nylon strat is a straight 10" and I can't imagine it being a 10/16. It's very comfortable all over the neck, but of course it's not strung with metal strings.

My newest ( http://www.unofficialwarmoth.com/index.php?topic=27604.0 ) is a straight 12.5" and it's very comfortable.

I wish I had the guts to buy about 6 more necks to discover what I really prefer.
It will just take more time.

 

[TonyFlyingSquirrel]

Thanks for the replies guys.

This is all good news to me, it's a lot cheaper to get a 10-16 already in stock than go the custom road and get a straight 16 or higher.

An older 540SLTD had me going down the same thought path as yourself.  I was going to spec out a similar neck from W, but went with compound radius due to the ease of use with a floyd setup.

My old ibanez was also a 540, effortless playability but i went off the locking trem.

How did the 10-16 work out for you?

I'll let you know - it's arriving today, but I'll have to dye/finish it first.  I had a CR Warmoth neck on a guitar with a TOM bridge and was able to get the action reasonable low despite the variance 6.5" discrepancy in radius at the bridge. 
I've got my Gotoh 1996T shimmed up to about 18", so I should have a better experience this time around.

My TFS6 has a 12" radius, and if memory serves, my Gotoh 1995T is shimmed at 16".  I'm able to get very low action, about 3/32" up & down the neck.

 

[Strat Avenger]

My 10-16" has a string height between 1/16" and 5/64" @ the 12th fret. Plays great.

 

[laney]

I was hoping to get down to the standard low on ibanez guitars of about 1.5mm or roughly 4/64 of an inch on the high e. Seems that is a bit lower than people are getting on their 10-16" radius necks.

I can already get a 2mm action on the 10" radius neck that's currently on the guitar so i may end up just going custom and getting a 16" or even a completely flat radius,