How does the contoured heel work?

[thx712517]

I'm trying to figure out the geometry with the contoured heel option. If the plate is at an angle, but the screws go in straight, do the screw heads not sit flush with the plate? Is it a screw with a small head and a movable washer/collar?

Just not sure. It seems like a neat option. I keep building chambered Tele bodies with the forearm, belly, and heel contours because it looks so nice.

 

[Cagey]

I use oval head machine screws with heads that look like this in profile...

...but the Philips head wood screws most commonly used are quite quite similar, so the while the screw is off by a few degrees, you don't really notice it.

 

[MikeW]

You are correct. The angle of the heel pushes the heads of the screws just a smidge out of alignment so they are not completely flush with the plate. they are standard wood or machine screws and the heads are typically oval top like what Cagey has in the picture, rather than flat.

I've built a couple guitars with the contoured heel, and it is indeed a nice feeling to not have the corner of the heel digging into your palm when you slide to the top frets. That being said, I've built many more with the regular heel and am not sure it's worth the extra cost. It's a great nice-to-have option though.

 

[rgand]

I just built a body with a contoured heel. The low end of the plate is 1/4" lower than the other. If it was any greater a difference, the screws may look somewhat askew but this much is not really noticeable without close scruitiny.

 

[Cactus Jack]

I have a few guitars with the contoured heal, and personally, I'm not a fan. I get seriously OCD with details and the screw thing bugs the crap out of me. One thing I've done is put a gasket under the neck plate...that may have help a wee bit. I don't spend a lot of time up high so the benefit is lost on me, and when I do play up there, it doesn't make much of a difference in my opinion.

 

[Cagey]

I can't get terribly excited about them myself. But, it doesn't hurt anything, so I don't care.

 

[Rick]

I never found the the need for them either, but they look great.

 

[Strat Avenger]

I prefer the Fender contoured heel, but it won't work with the Pro neck. All my necks are Vintage Modern.

 

[Ace Flibble]

The screws aren't off enough for me to care visually, but I do definitely feel it and it bothers me enough that I no longer order Warmoth bodies with both the contoured heel and the standard bolt holes drilled. I either get the contoured heel and then contour it further and drill the holes myself, to match the ESP method (ESP's contoured heel is angled like Warmoth's + has the corner cut like Fender's, with the bolts drilled at a slight angle so everything sits flush), or I just use the standard heel. One of the same reasons why I don't touch those dreadful 'Pro' necks with the side-adjust; feeling that scraping under the hand is awful.

I daresay Warmoth would be able to get many more people to pay the extra $35 if they used at least the Fender method, or an ESP-style double contour that was compatible with Fender's. That way the people with Fender-contoured necks or bodies could happily use Warmoth's parts as-is and the rest of us would simply get a better contour out of it without extra work.

 

[Strat Avenger]

The screws aren't off enough for me to care visually, but I do definitely feel it and it bothers me enough that I no longer order Warmoth bodies with both the contoured heel and the standard bolt holes drilled. I either get the contoured heel and then contour it further and drill the holes myself, to match the ESP method (ESP's contoured heel is angled like Warmoth's + has the corner cut like Fender's, with the bolts drilled at a slight angle so everything sits flush), or I just use the standard heel. One of the same reasons why I don't touch those dreadful 'Pro' necks with the side-adjust; feeling that scraping under the hand is awful.

I daresay Warmoth would be able to get many more people to pay the extra $35 if they used at least the Fender method, or an ESP-style double contour that was compatible with Fender's. That way the people with Fender-contoured necks or bodies could happily use Warmoth's parts as-is and the rest of us would simply get a better contour out of it without extra work.

My thoughts exactly.

 

[bagman67]

The screws aren't off enough for me to care visually, but I do definitely feel it and it bothers me enough that I no longer order Warmoth bodies with both the contoured heel and the standard bolt holes drilled. I either get the contoured heel and then contour it further and drill the holes myself, to match the ESP method (ESP's contoured heel is angled like Warmoth's + has the corner cut like Fender's, with the bolts drilled at a slight angle so everything sits flush), or I just use the standard heel. One of the same reasons why I don't touch those dreadful 'Pro' necks with the side-adjust; feeling that scraping under the hand is awful.

I daresay Warmoth would be able to get many more people to pay the extra $35 if they used at least the Fender method, or an ESP-style double contour that was compatible with Fender's. That way the people with Fender-contoured necks or bodies could happily use Warmoth's parts as-is and the rest of us would simply get a better contour out of it without extra work.

Obviously I am not a Warmoth employee but my guess is they've sunk a lot of cost into marketing the Gotoh side-adjust and don't want the headache of handling returns and complaints when the inevitable purchasers gripe about how their Warmoth modern-construction neck doesn't fit with their Warmoth body, and so on and so forth.  I'm sure they have empirical evidence of how frequently this sort of thing occurs when folks buy W. side-adjust necks and are disappointed when they don't fit with their Fender contoured-heel bodies.


That having been said, it would be a nifty option to have on the menu, I fully agree.

 

[Cactus Jack]

I just finished assembling a Tele with the contoured heal. I really don’t like it. Not only do the screws not sit flush, you actually need to use four different length screws if you want uniform anchoring into the neck. Not a big deal to most, but another weird quirk I hadn’t noticed before.

 

[BroccoliRob]

I just finished assembling a Tele with the contoured heal. I really don’t like it. Not only do the screws not sit flush, you actually need to use four different length screws if you want uniform anchoring into the neck. Not a big deal to most, but another weird quirk I hadn’t noticed before.

But how of ten is your palm, like, slammed up flat against the plate where you would actually feel the screw headz? It's a pretty minor issue, yo.

to be frank zappa, it's as minor a problem as internal bleeding since inside is where the blood is supposed to be. i'm not gonna get mad at my body for rearranging its own workflow

 

[ragamuffin]

I really like the contoured heel on my tele  :dontknow:

 

[frown]

I have Icon Plates on my Warmoth builds. These are thicker plates [made of stainless steel] and are counter sunk, recessed deeper than standard neck plates. Using oval screw heads, the angle isn’t so apparent, so this approach may appeal?

Regarding the rounded corner with a curved plate like a Fender Jeff Beck model, Warmoth has always bugged me that they have the location pin hole on the side you’d most likely want contour... so you’d have to plug the hole first. Better for finished bodies I’d say. :tard: