SOP when Measuring a Guitar Neck?

[Lutherfest]

Everyone:

 

What's the "standard procedure" in measuring a guitar neck in order to give others an idea of its size and shape?

 

Do you use a calipers?

 

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

 

 

Lutherfest

[High Flying Bird]

I was told to use calipers but I couldn't make sense out of it because the measurements were the same on a thin neck and a thick neck. Give Heritage a call and ask them in detail how to do it.

 

When I had the 357 made I told Marv to make the neck as thin as structurally possible. It turned out to my liking.

[soybean]

Look at the Warmoth site.

[GuitArtMan]

Calipers are a good starting point. You'll need to know thickness (front to rear). This is usually done at two or more points - the nut or first fret and the 12th fret. You also need to know width (across the fingerboard). This is also usually measured at the nut and 12th fret. The problem with those measurements is they tell you nothing of the shape of the neck. You could have two necks with the same exact measurements that feel totally different because of the shape.

 

There are moany sources of neck shape information (google is your friend) but here are some common ones:

 

You can use a countour gauge (I think that's what they are called - you can find them at Home Depot) to get an idea of the actual shape. The challenge is it's hard to know where the fingerboard should be:

[GuitArtMan]

Another thing, the fingerboard radius can have a big difference on feel. On the same neck shape/size a flat fingerboard with small frets will feel thinner (because it is thinner) that more curved radius with large frets.

[smurph1]

I know one thing for sure..I don't like V-shapes..YMMV!!

[Lutherfest]

Thanks to everyone for the above posts!

 

I saw somewhere Stewmac has a thin metal fretboard radius (for the width of the neck) measuring device with 4 different curves to help get a sense of the fretboard curve. Does Heritage have one standard fretboard radius for all H-150's - or does this vary depending on luthier / craftsman working on the individual guitar?

 

Thanks again.

[soybean]

I'll bet they are all the same radius but I don't know what it is. Somewhere in the 12 to 16 range.

[skydog52]

From the Warmoth sight.

 

http://www.warmoth.com/Guitar/Necks/BackContours.aspx