Advice with Modern construction initial adjustment.

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benferrari

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Hi all,

I've just received a modern-construction neck. I need a bit of guidance interpreting the Gotoh side- adjustment instructions.

The instructions state that the neck should be adjusted at the heel until it's perfectly straight (this is the part that doesn't add up with what I'm seeing).

The heel adjustment was loose out of the box and the neck had some relief (I'm using a notched straight edge as a reference).

I start to tighten the heel adjustment the neck becomes flatter and then it's perfectly flat between the 1st & 13th fret, however, there is now small a gap that gets slightly bigger as you travel up the neck from there to the last fret (fall away?). Is this considered "perfectly flat?" or is there somewhere an in-between I should be aiming? or am I being an idiot? (the side adjustment looks to be in the correct range).

Any advice would be amazing - I want to get it right and when it says "perfect" and it's not `I want to make sure :)
 
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You are on the right-lines, and the side adjust is only used for minor adjustments once level.

But flat along the length is flat along the length, not part of it. Perhaps you have slightly too much tension when ended up with it flat between 1 and 13 and then a gap higher, try releasing the tension slightly.

But...

You mention using a notched straight edge. A couple of points to think about:
  • How do you know that the straight edge is actually straight?
  • What are you checking to be flat, the board or the tops of the frets?
  • Are the frets themselves all level? Probably not, but they may be close.
  • Flatness would need to be checked again also under string tension
    • Suggestion, get it as close to flat as possible.
    • Put the neck on and string it up and then check again (the side adjust can come into play here)
A couple of links to read which have a bit more info / video / opinion.

Truss Rods & Side Adjust

warmoth.com warmoth.com
warmoth.com

Baby, Don't Fear the Truss Rod

There's nothing scary about it, once you know these basics.
warmoth.com warmoth.com

The thread should be in tech talk sub forum, I will request it to be moved.
 
Thank you for the reply.

I've built a few guitars before so I'm not a stranger to truss rods etc. But this is the first modern Construction neck I've had.
  • The straight edge is completely flat (crimson guitars). As the neck is out of the box I'm following the instructions to get the neck perfectly flat (which is what I'd do if I was going to do a fret level).
  • I'm checking the fingerboard first. straight down the center line.
  • When adjusting there is relief and then no relief what looks like a fall away.
I read somewhere that the necks have a slight forward bow built into them.

I'm just confused because the instructions are very specific with their working but it's not what I'm seeing.

I'll take a few pictures later to show what I'm seeing.
 
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I must be out of the loop, because I don't know what "pro construction" is and I can't find reference to it on the Warmoth site. The last neck I got from them was "modern" construction, and had some fall-away out of the box, which I find a good thing. The fall-away would have prevented it from being adjusted to be straight all the way to the heel.
 
Here's some pictures. I would never measure the neck like this normally. I couldn't get a good picture so had to hold the neck up like this to get it visable.

The Neck perfeclty flat all the way up to the 14th fret - A gap from there up to the 22nd.

If I try loosening the trusrod more there a gap appears at the 7th fret, then none at the 12th and then still some at the end of the board.


IMG_2122.jpegIMG_2121.jpegIMG_2120.jpeg
 
triple jim said:
It appears to be fall-away, which to me is a good thing.
Click to expand...
I was thinking the same thing. Funny how they send very explicit instructions that are effectively impossible to follow (no note that there is fall-away to factor in.)

I called Warmoth and they made no mention of fall-away which is why I ended up posted here.
 
Try flipping the notched straightedge the other way round, it has two notches one for Fender scale and one for Gibson scale. It looks to me from the photos that you have some of the straightedge sitting between the frets and others sitting on the frets, which, of course, will give a false reading which does not represent being flat.

Fall away is not built into the necks in my experience.
 
stratamania said:
Try flipping the notched straightedge the other way round, it has two notches one for Fender scale and one for Gibson scale. It looks to me from the photos that you have some of the straightedge sitting between the frets and others sitting on the frets, which, of course, will give a false reading which does not represent being flat.

Fall away is not built into the necks in my experience.
Click to expand...
It’s just the picture that makes it look that way. The straight edge Is in the correct side
 
You are much more professional than I. What I do is just use the main nut to adjust the neck flat before installing. I use a metal straight edge ruler with no fancy notches, that just goes over the frets, it doesn't touch the fretboard. When I no longer see light between the frets and the ruler I'm done, and on it goes to the neck. Hopefully there's no one fret that's high. Never had that with a Warmoth neck, knock wood, always been perfect. I then roll the edges smooth.

After it's been strung up and settled in, I go thru the dance of the intonation, bridge height and neck relief, still only using the main truss nut. It could take two months once a week to get that just right.

After that and it's settled in, I use the side adjust, maybe once. And on the modern construction necks, after it's adjusted, at least for me, as long as I use the same gauge strings, I never have to do it again.

You can make yourself, keep it simple.
 
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The neck looks to have a thin profile. It is hard for me to gaze upon it!
 
Warmoth say the objective is to have the fb perfectly flat. Based on the pic you posted, it seems not to be.

Really the objective is to have a small amount of relief, something like the thickness of the high e string (0.010"). The question I think about is when you adjust the neck under tension, will you get the relief in the correct location. Based on the pic I am not confident that it will. You can try to adjust the trussrod, but it gives me the impression you may end up with too much relief further down the neck around the 5th to 7th fret.

If so, you end up with the fret board relief in the wrong location and get a fret buzz around the 15th fret. You might end up having to take the neck to a luthier to be leveled and re-crowned if you are not able to do the work yourself. I normally expect Warmoth necks made with roasted maple back and rosewood fb to be pretty much dead-straight and rigid.
 
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benferrari said:
It’s just the picture that makes it look that way. The straight edge Is in the correct side
Click to expand...

Pictures of it held vertically without proper perspective rather than showing it in a proper horizontal position are not going to help. If you are checking it, the way you are holding it in the pictures (hopefully not) you won't get accuracy.
 
How can you gauge whether the neck is straight or not using a notched straight edge when the when the straight edge is sitting on the frets in some places? Isn't the point of the the "notched" straight edge that it's supposed to rest on the fretboard and not touch the frets?
 
Need two things:
1) Read How to make your electric guitar play great by Dan Erlewine. You can buy it used for about 8 bucks. If you don't have some luthier books you're out of your mind.
2) Watch this video (go to about 8 mins):
 
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