neck to body angle

[SalsaNChips]

I have a question about the angle of the neck in relation to the body and how that is usually adjusted. Are necks only supposed to be bolted on the body at the angle determined by the cut of the heel on the neck? Because, on my Fender Strat neck at least, that was pretty much in line with the body. Meaning the string height off the body was WAY too low for my playing. I played my Strat for many years like this, always struggling with palm muting and constantly crowded by the position of the volume knob hitting my little finger UNTIL just recently when I took the neck off, shimmed it about 1/8th (using washers over the rear two bolt positions), reattached the neck then raised my bridge (Wilkinson tremelo) and saddles WAY up to set my string height relative to the new neck angle. The difference in the playability of the guitar was enormous. Palm muting is now effortless. My right hand now clears the volume knob and it in general just makes things a lot more comfortable. BUT, my sense is that doing that reduces the contact patch of the neck heel on the body and as such, can negatively affect tone (I haven't noticed any difference though). Asking because the custom Tele that I just ordered from Warmoth may require a similar treatment when I get into the final set up. I know Fender used to feature a neck angle adjustment on some Stratocasters, there was a allen screw in the body under the heel plate that you could turn to shim the back of neck heel up (after loosening the neck bolts). Just wondering why Warmoth doesn't make this available as an option on their bodies. Also, how common is this type of adjustment and is there any standard protocol for how it is supposed to be done (as opposed to using washers like I did)?

 

[Danuda]

They are designed to only be put at the angle that is built on the neck heel.  Fenders are designed for lower profile bridges and can have a straight run to the bridge and still allow proper string clearances.  It sounds like essentially you like more of a TOM bridge which raises the strings higher away from the body.  If you want a tune-o-matic bridge on your stratocaster Warmoth will do that for you.  You need to specify the TOM bridge and have them alter the neck angle in the neck pocket.  Those options are built into the custom builder.
Changing the neck angle with washers is not a good way to do it.  Also shimming the bridge the way you didn't isn't the best either.  Tone and sound is relative.  Some people are pickier than others.  I have a friend who is a wine sommelier.  He notices all sorts of different tastes and qualities in wines I just don't.  A $20 bottle tastes like a $500 bottle to me, all I can tell is when it is truly awefull.  Guitars are the same.  Some people notice others don't.  I do, but beware of the cork sniffers.

 

[Patrick from Davis]

Shimming is generally avoided unless the bridge changes on a guitar.  As mentioned, if a guitar body gets a TOM from Warmoth, they put a different angle on the neck pocket.  No shimming needed.  On some cheaper instruments, there is a lot of paint or poorly cleaned up surfaces on the neck or the pocket.  This leads to the neck not fitting well in the pocket.  By cleaning it up, and making it fit properly (Generally the finish just get wavy and needs to be flat) you can get rid of a lot of problems.  Again, that is generally on cheap instruments.  If you are not the best at setting up your instrument, you can take it to a pro or get some information on how to do it like the pros.  That will make your guitar much better in the shortest amount of time.
Patrick

 

[SalsaNChips]

Thanks for this information - I just learned something about TOM bridges.

On my Tele, I didn't specify any alteration to the neck angle. I will be using a standard Tele bridge/tailpiece and standard control locations. Because on the Tele the controls are further away from the strings near the bridge and also the lack of a center pickup, the lower string height to the body probably won't be a problem for me. If not, I'll shim the neck, but try to fab up a wood wedge to go under the neck so it maintains 100% contact when torqued down (even if it is an indirect contact). Or carefully mill about 1mm from the heel, enough to set the neck at the angle I want. Very carefully

 

[Danuda]

If you shim the neck or change the angle you will have to be very careful with the tele bridge.  It only works within a pretty small range of tolerance as far as height is concerned.  If you change the angle of the neck pocket the strings will get closer and closer to the neck.  The more of an angle the worse it will get and you could get a lot of string buzz.  If you really want the angle you could make a shim for under the bridge as well.  Do it in a nice looking wood and it wouldn't look too bad.  That would keep the strings from buzzing.