Any electric builders here?

[Quickstep192]

I’m hoping there are some electric guitar builders on the forum.

I'm considering a foray into making an electric instrument and I'm wondering...

Is the angle of the neck established by routing the bottom of the pocket at an angle, or is the angle cut into the heel of the neck? I know there's shimming, but I'm assuming that's just fine adjustment and the initial angle is machined in the neck or pocket.

Can one of you with experience let me know how this works?

[H165]

Dang, this is an interesting question. I've had fifty Fenders apart and never looked for the answer to that particular question. I'm going to guess the body is milled to fit. I've used shims to mess with the angle.

I have sorta-built one interesting electric - I took apart a Stratocaster Elite (pushbutton) re-profiled the neck, re-built the bridge, plugged two tuner holes, replaced the nut, added a 5th key, and turned it into "The StratoBlaster", a 5-string-banjo-strat. It was so much fun I'm tempted to do it again, here 30 years later. I mean, a Granada is one thing, but hooking a banjo-thing up to a Marshall stack is definitely another.

[mirwa]

Socket angle is typical for bolt in necks as it’s common for people too want to remove and replace them all the time

Glued in necks have the angle set in the heel of the neck.

Steve

[Quickstep192]

H165, I’d love to see some pictures of the StratoBlaster. That’s actually kind of what I have in mind. I want to make a solid body, re-shape a bolt on neck and fit a drum head to the body. I want to use a mesh head and a piezo to make a silent banjo.

Steve, do you normally rout the pocket using a template that’s cut at an angle?

[mirwa]

I route the neck socket with an overhead router and raise the front of the guitar up to the desired angle, could not see an issue with a tapered template to route off.

Why modify a strat body, very complex idea to fit a hoop into, just bend up a hoop or make a segmented hoop they are a pretty simplistic process

When I make drum shells, I do either laminated, segmented or solid, each varies in price, when I do banjos, I just bend 3 plys

Steve

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by mirwa

I route the neck socket with an overhead router and raise the front of the guitar up to the desired angle, could not see an issue with a tapered template to route off.

Why modify a strat body, very complex idea to fit a hoop into, just bend up a hoop or make a segmented hoop they are a pretty simplistic process

When I make drum shells, I do either laminated, segmented or solid, each varies in price, when I do banjos, I just bend 3 plys

Steve

I wasn’t going to modify a Strat body, I was going to make the body and modify a cheap neck.

My logic is this:

I’m not really setup to bend a banjorim
I can buy a Bolt on Tele neck for cheap. (A banjo neck to fit a hoop isn’t cheap)
A bolt on neck seems easy to fit
I’d go straight electric, but a solid body would have too much sustain for banjo
Routing a circle in the solid top seems (relatively) easy

Up for suggestions though if I’m seriously missing something.

[mirwa]

K, I sort of get some of your logic there.

I make everything in house, so making a Banjo neck or a Tele neck is for me no different.

Something to consider, the shell of the banjo is just as important as the head itself, when making a shell - different thicknesses give a different tone or colour to the instrument and volume.

How are you contemplating mounting the hangar bolts to hold the head down

Steve

[Quickstep192]

Originally Posted by mirwa

K, I sort of get some of your logic there.

I make everything in house, so making a Banjo neck or a Tele neck is for me no different.

Something to consider, the shell of the banjo is just as important as the head itself, when making a shell - different thicknesses give a different tone or colour to the instrument and volume.

How are you contemplating mounting the hangar bolts to hold the head down

Steve

I can make a banjo neck, but for me it’s a lot of work, so unless it’s for a nice banjo, it doesn’t seem worth the effort for what could be a failed experiment.

I haven’t really decided on how to secure the head. Any ideas?

PS, tone isn’t necessarily important. I want to keep it quiet and use a bridge with a piezo so only the player (me) can hear it.

[mirwa]

I don’t know how you will make a bridge with a piezo work on a skin head.

Typically we make a pickup that sits on the perch bar and then we double side stick a small sliver of steel on the underside of the head at the bridge location so as the bridge and string vibrate they move the sliver of steel in the magnetic field and thus create sound.

I cannot answer how you mount the head in your scenario , as I would just bend up a rim, or if I didn’t have the tools to bend up a rim, I would make a segmented rim.

Your attempting to make a Banjo Guitar with an unusual rim design, Banjo mandos, Banjo uke’s and so forth are very common

Steve

[B. Howard]

I build more electrics these days than acoustics..... Bolt on necks typically have no set angle. Pockets here are cut on plane with the top of the guitar. These necks may be shimmed at times but if laid out 100% correct for all the hardware etc that shouldn't be needed.

Set necks, like gibson for example typically have the pocket cut at the needed angle and the neck tenon left "square" to the neck because it is the easier path to getting a proper fit.

Neck angle is determined by the geometry of whatever bridge you choose to use no matter what type of construction.

[redir]

I've only built about 10 electric guitars and I routed out the pocket right off the top so the angle of the pocket was the same plane as the top. The rout depth determined the 'set' or the string height at the bridge. So basically they were all elevated fretboards which imho makes for a nice feel on the high notes anyway.

There's all kinds of ways of doing this sort of thing and no one way is better then the other really.

[Rodger Knox]

Originally Posted by redir

There's all kinds of ways of doing this sort of thing and no one way is better then the other really.

There usually is one way that is better, but which one it is depends on the builder, his tools, and how he likes to do things.

[Rudy4]

I've got a semi-acoustic in process and it will have the neck angle incorporated in the body pocket.

[Otterhound]

Of course , the neck through design is used in solid bodied guitars .