Part 4

A guitar built specially By Ken to commemorate the opening of the Mersey Sound Wave Exhibition

The Spirit Of The Wave Liverpool Beat

Set up part one.

The neck of a guitar is a fascinating combination of parts that when made and adjusted correctly, make the instrument easy to play. All parts are important and must marry together with precision lets start with the Fretboard. The very best are made from Ebony which is very expensive and in some cases you could buy a guitar for less than a decent piece of wood!! The next best is Rosewood and after that any type of hardwood is used depending on the quality of the guitar.

The Neck itself is generally Mahogany or Maple depending on the ‘sound’ required, even though it only contributes a small amount to the sound ,it is still important. Most Gibson guitars use Mahogany while Fender use Maple. The neck shape profile tapers from the nut towards the body both in width and depth and every player has their own preference on the’ feel’ they prefer and also the width of the neck at the nut. Most come in between 43mm and 45mm although some are smaller like Rickenbacker and one or two basses are so wide you need two hands to fret them!!

Neck Shape

In the last part I destroyed the idea that a neck should be as straight as an arrow it must have a small bend in it called ‘relief’ now --- the fret board also has a bend the other way called, ‘Radius’! One of the things I love about the art of making instruments is the ickle quirks like, all measurements are in inches and millimetres !! Therefore just to confuse you, Radius is measured in feet and inches honest!! This is because it is part of a circle . Most guitar radius go from 7,¼” to 20” and the only type of guitar with a flat board is a nylon string Classical guitar. A 7,¼” radius makes for a very comfy grip when playing and is great down by the nut but if you want to bend strings further up the neck they will choke, so it depends on your style of playing what will suit you best. I prefer a 16” radius on all the guitars and basses I make as my fingers are small and I have a narrow neck ---on the guitar that is!!.
Top professional guitarists have the fret boards customised with ‘compound radius’ that is, they start with say, 7,¼” and gradually reduce through 12” -16” 20” to flat. The frets themselves are bent to the radius to match up as well.

The Neck

To set the neck up to optimum playing standard follow the story board.

Firstly restring your guitar with the gauge of string that you will be using all the time and tune to pitch. Stretch the strings upward a couple of inches to remove the slack then tune to pitch again.

Guitar Neck

Have a look at the neck by looking from the head down the fret board and note whether it bows up or back. Then remove the truss rod cover above the nut on the headstock.

To adjust the truss rod you need the correct wrench for your make of guitar as they are all different.

WARNING: Take it very slowly as you turn the wrench only move it one eighth of a turn at a time.

Hold the guitar in the playing position and turn the wrench Clockwise for less relief, that tightens the truss rod, Anti clockwise to give more relief, that slackens the truss rod. To check you have the correct relief ,you need to measure the distance between the top of the twelve fret and the underside of the string.

Depending on the type of your guitar use, this chart as a guide.

ACTION	STYLE OF PLAYING	RELIEF
Low- Medium	Rock n Roll	0.010”
Standard	Jazz/Acoustic electric	0.013”

These measurements are in thousands of an inch so you need the correct ruler and good eyesight!!!!!

Check for Relief

The Guitar Nut

Now we turn our attention to the Nut. After the truss rod has been adjusted the slots on the nut will have to be adjusted accordingly. Tune again to pitch. Lift one string at a time out of it’s slot and watch your fingers, strings can cut!! Using a small needle file very slowly, file the slot down and check every stroke using a feeler gauge the height from the fret board to the bottom of the string. It should be around 6/7 thousandths of an inch at the first string and gradually increase to 9/10 thousandths at the sixth string.

Adjusting the Nut On A Guitar

If you file too low, the strings will hit the frets and the guitar wont play so take it very steady and check all the time, but if you do go to far you have three options.

Replace the nut.
Remove the nut and shim it up.
If it is only a small amount. Sand the back of the nut and collect the dust.

Put a drop of Cyanoacrylate in the slot (that’s super glue to you and me!)
Then drop the dust on top and another drop of glue. When it has hardened you can start again.