strat neck angle

[pete692]

Okay, so I got the action where it doesn't buzz too much on my strat, but it plays and bends quite a bit stiffer than I like. The saddles are quite high, especially the middle two strings, which are screwed basically all the way up.

I want to shim the neck so that there is some forward tilt to the body, so I can lower the saddles, reducing the break angle of the strings over the saddles and making it play a little "slinkier".


I'm wondering if, with this tilt, should I take some relief OUT of the neck? It's at .010 right now.

And yes, my frets are level.

[Mike9]

.010 is Fender spec - shimming the neck will only tilt it, but the upside is you can lower your saddles - which you mentioned loosened up the guitar in your other thread. I've been able to set up necks dead flat with no buzz on Floyd guitars, but the slightest change in humidity was cause for a truss adjusting - a real PITA.

[Fireball XL5]

I'm wondering if, with this tilt, should I take some relief OUT of the neck? It's at .010 right now.

Shimming the neck should have no effect on your relief setting.

The idea of the shim is to allow you to lower the saddles at the bridge thereby giving you the same string height at the 12th fret - but with your saddles now set within proper range instead of being maxed out.

The relationship between the strings to the frets from the 12th fret to the nut (determined by your relief) will remain the same.