Neck angle new dreadnaught

[Matthew Atkinson]

With the neck bolted on and clamped tight I have 3/32" above the bridge at the saddle location with a straightedge laying on the levelled frets. Good, right? Just want a thumbs up before moving on!

[John Hamlett]

Seems a little high to me, but it depends upon your bridge thickness, how stiff or "loose" your top is, and your intended saddle height.

[Bob Gramann]

If you add 10/64" to get an action height of 5/64 at the 12th fret, subtract 1/64" because your top will pull up with string tension (more or less depending on how stiff you made the top), you get a saddle height of 15/64" or just below 1/4". My ideal is a string height of 1/2" (plus or minus a fudge) above the soundboard at the bridge. In other words, "what John said."

[Clay Schaeffer]

Hi Matthew,
If the strings are about 3/32 above the 12th fret that will add about 3/16 to the saddle height, which added to the 3/32 will make the saddle about 1/4+ inch above the bridge. However, the top will "pull up" some which will reduce this some and may bring you back into the "normal" range, depending on how "loose" your top is. As John said you might be slightly high.
The height of the strings off the soundboard at the bridge location I try to keep between 3/8 (a bit low) and 9/16 (a bit high), ideally 7/16 to 1/2 inch. This is more critical to the sound than the finished height of the bridge or saddle, so you might want to do a little calculation and see if things fall in this range. The amount of "pull up" is the unknown variable because it varies as the stiffness of the top and bracing. 3/32 might be a reasonable number to use for calculations. It's not an exact science, but it should keep you in the ball park.

[Matthew Atkinson]

Ok. i'm gonna try to get it a bit lower. Best thing to do is sand the body at the neck joint, I guess. Might have to sand the fb extension too. I will shoot for 3/64" I think.

[Bob Gramann]

Can you string it up and see how things land before you make modifications? If it ends up close enough, that might be better than making big changes and risking damage.

[Matthew Atkinson]

I don't see how I can do that. There is no finish yet and I want to have the neck/fb installed before gluing on the bridge. I could do the assembly without gluing the fb extension, I guess.

[Mario Proulx]

That's too high, even with a severely scalloped bracing and "loose top, you'll end up with a tall saddle/bridge combination. Shoot for about .040" above the bridge, and you'll be much happier.

Instead of sanding the body, just shave the heel. Won't take but a few swipes of the chisel.

[Matthew Atkinson]

I'm at 3/64" but I'm gonna go for .04" Couple more "swipes". I need to sharpen my chisel. Thanks, Mario. That's the exact answer I was looking for!

Hey wait a second! 3/64" is damn close to .04" (.046875") I guess you were refering to my first post. Got it!

[Mario Proulx]

You said 3/32", which is .093".

[Bill Hicklin]

I just try to bullseye the top of the bridge- is that too low for my moderately 'loose' soundboards?

[Mario Proulx]

If you're right at the top of the bridge, you'll be just below it when tuned to pitch, so yes, that's a bit too low. Doesn't leave you much saddle left in order to adjust the action in the future.

0.040" is a max., BTW

[Bill Hicklin]

Ok, I'm confused. If we want a standard 8/64 action height (low E) at the 12th, that would be 1/4" above the fret-line at the saddle; .04 + .25 = a saddle .29" tall above the bridge not counting the 3/16" or so in the slot????? Standard saddle blanks are only 3/8!

Or is my brain not functioning?

[Mario Proulx]

First, who runs action at .125"(8/64")!?! 3/32"(.093") is max on the low E.

With a nice and "loose" top system, a neck angle resulting in a straight edge shooting .020" to .040" above the bridge will see that same straight edge just slightly above the bridge, if not right on once when tuned to pitch and allowed to settle for a few weeks.

There's also the variable of bridge thickness/height choices also, but that's another discussion for another day. Here, I'm assuming we have our bridge already chosen when we are setting the neck angle.

All my saddle blanks are 1/2" x 3/32" x 4", BTW. Not as common as the shorter ones, but they're readily available.

[Bill Hicklin]

Understand lower action preference. But a saddle over a quarter inch above the bridge? Really? I thought the target was about an eighth to 3/16?

[Woodrow Brackett]

Understand lower action preference. But a saddle over a quarter inch above the bridge? Really? I thought the target was about an eighth to 3/16?

The saddle isn't that high. A new guitar with the straight edge .040" over the bridge will belly, to have the straight edge pretty much right on top of the bridge after being under string tension for a week or 2.......so, straight edge on top of the bridge would = "0" action. To turn "0" action to .090" you'd have .180" saddle above the bridge.

I fret pretty much last (I know Mario.........don't fuss at me.....old habits LOL) so I set my neck angle with the straight edge just touching the top of the bridge, with no frets. In the end that's pretty much the same a .040" above the bridge with frets installed.