Ok after seeing the latest neck straightedge from stewmac for $700odd i was disgusted. So i decided to make my own from a 39" aluminium ruler. Luckily theres enough ruler to make a 24.75" and a 25.5" neck straightedge. My first attempt at the fender scale didnt work out very neatly though its servicable. I'm still shaping the fret cutouts on the gibson scale one.
After reading a comment by dan erlewine that 'theres no tone like a perfectly straight neck under tension. Its worth putting up with a bit of fretbuzz for.' I was somewhat knocked back by such a outlandish idea. Anyway i hate fretbuzz and chase it out of my guitars. So I've decided to set the neck dead flat and angle the frets on a LP copy that i've got to see if theres any truth in it or if its a ploy to get us to buy $70 bits of notched metal.

If anyone can think why it may not work please reply before i start grinding frets.

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You're talking about this, I presume?

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Tools/Measu ... _Edge.html

That one's a long, long way down my "to get" list, to be sure...

I do get what Dan's talking about with the thing about a perfectly straight neck giving more sustain. Bit like an archery bow: the straighter it is the more you're pulling against the end grain to bend it. More rigid.

I think there's precious little in it tonewise in real life, though. A microscopic difference. Nothing worth re-leveling frets to achieve.

To test it with your ears you could just set the neck absolutely flat and live with a slightly higher action for a few hours or day while trying it. See if you felt there was a detectable difference in tone. If anyone's ears could spot it yours could!

If you really noticed an advantage the Dan Erlewine way then think again about re-doing the frets to allow for it.

But I bet there's nothing useful in it!

Cheers - C

Your right theres nothing in it tonewise. It does feel nicer though. Gonna give it a bit more time to see if i can live with the buzz. Nut height needs to be raised a fair bit too.

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[quote="Ceri"]

This touches on a problem I was having with my Strats that Niki and I spent quite a bit of time in in private conversation.

Now I bring you back to a years old observation that EC once made about having the strings on his guitars set at 1/8' above the frets for the full length of the neck.

When I put this to my tech he observed that with a full time guitar tech you could have your neck reliefs, string heights and frets spot ground and polished individually to your hearts content.

One wonders about how that vertical motion which generates his wide vibrato might be accomplished using a standard strat setup. I don't see it happening.

I'd be interested in seeing what Niki's tinkering comes up with

As an aside, he ought to inquire as to whether the different between his gidget, and Dan's gadget is patentable.

Doc.

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"Another day in paradise!"

Ah doc mine is just a steel rule with notches cut out of it. Theres nothing special about it. I just saw what stewmac was selling for $72 and built a rough one for £3.50. I certainly couldnt see anyone wanting to pay for my rough metal cutting.

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Sometimes improvement on prior art creates a new mousetrap.

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"Another day in paradise!"

I do have a couple of nut blanks knocking around. I'll see about that 1/8" action across the board.

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I agree. How much could the blessed "tone" change?

The neck is under quite a bit of tension all the same, though to get it flat, wouldn't the truss rod be working even harder than it is with a slight bow, but does that make a tonal difference?

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Member #26797
My other guitar is a Strat.

I'm sure it makes a difference, but only Eric Johnson would hear it anyway.

Niki, I wonder if Dan was just using some hyperbole in that quote?

I know in the books I have, he says he likes a neck as straight as he can get it, without fret buzz.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

I think his theory is that a stressed neck transfers vibration better. I certainly dont hear it at any position of the board. The comfort of it is lovely but not worth the clunk clunk on frets 3 to 10. The necks had a couple of hours to set in now. I'm going to level the frets while its in this state and see about the 1/8th action.

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an aside, is, I notched a straight edge too, they charge a lot for some of their tools.

They are however a constant source of ideas, on how to modify some existing tools. Much cheaper to buy the base tool from your local shop, and then do the modification they made.
key example:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Finishing_s ... older.html

can probably make a similar contraption for under 10 bucks. But I do like the idea of it.

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I'm not an expert, but I play one on the internet.

That's right!

(Way off topic, but...) StewMac sell this arbour press for fretting:

http://www.stewmac.com/shop/Fretting_su ... ystem.html

The press by itself is $110.89 / £76.80.

A major tool merchant where I live sells the identical press for $35.95 / £24.85. Man, that's a difference! (Though I notice StewMac have recently painted their one red: maybe that's important... ):

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... e=1&jump=0

I bet that press is imported from a factory in China someplace so is probably available everywhere. So then just buy StewMac's Fret Press Cauls to go with it and away we go!

http://www.stewmac.com/cgi-bin/hazel.cg ... RRENCY=USD

Some of StewMac's tools are unique and very useful - well worth having. They are a fabulous company: I love 'em.

But sometimes there are much cheaper sources for the self same items. Let's keep our eyes open!

Cheers - C

Ok on my telecaster i decided to go ahead with a risky experiment. I set the neck straight then leveled the frets. Yes there were a couple of high ones on a 5 month old guitar. Then i took the 8th fret down the 0.01 that is recommended as neck relief to set my bottom point. Then i set about the other frets from 2-18 creating the needed bow on the frets rather than the neck. A very laborious task. Anyhow its 1 am and i've just finished, the guitar doesnt buzz and has a perfectly straight neck.
I did take photo's, alas my photography skills aren't too good. Soon as i work out how to get the glare out of them i'll post em.

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WOW!!!

We need those pics...

Cheers - C

Very industrious of you Niki! We want to see it. Congratulations mate! Like Ceri said..WOW!