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Neck angle/height ABR bridge vs tone/playability

HSTR

New member
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Messages
65
Hi!
I noticed a post on Instagram about the angle of the strings at the bridge and was wondering what part of the construction effects tone/playability/etc.
Let's say that bridge height is determined by the angle of the neck and body joint, the angle of the strings at the bridge can be adjusted by raising the stop tailpiece or by top wrapping.
Having a flatter angle at the bridge will probably yield a slinkier feel but is it the angle of the strings at the bridge or the angle of the neck and body that influence the tone the most?

Mike Hickey made a comment about The Runt (a favoured guitar of Joe Bonamassa) and a still from Premiere Guitar's rig rundown (excellent show, PLEASE do Craig Ross rig) shows that the bridge is indeed pretty high compared to the picture in the Instagram post.

These are the links:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/asjbr8vs55wpc5q/Screen Shot 2018-12-13 at 13.02.19.png?dl=0
https://www.dropbox.com/s/mdmfzxk1w9gg4ml/Screen Shot 2018-12-12 at 22.35.35.png?dl=0


Unfortunately I couldn't get the pictures in the post.
 
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HSTR

New member
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Messages
65
The pictures


p.png


p.png
 
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zacknorton

Active member
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
731
Anecdote only but I’ve got a guild sf4 with an incredibly low neck angle...I mean bridge bottomed out on the body low. And a 6128 double cut duojet that has a borderline absurd neck/body angle. Seriously...it’s ridiculous.

Extreme swings in either direction present unique problems but those aside, The SF4 is quiet and controlled unplugged while the duojet is acoustically a very loud machine.

Its only an anecdote.

Id want to get that neck body angle “right” for practical reasons more than anything.
 

HSTR

New member
Joined
Dec 6, 2015
Messages
65
Anecdote only but I’ve got a guild sf4 with an incredibly low neck angle...I mean bridge bottomed out on the body low. And a 6128 double cut duojet that has a borderline absurd neck/body angle. Seriously...it’s ridiculous.

Extreme swings in either direction present unique problems but those aside, The SF4 is quiet and controlled unplugged while the duojet is acoustically a very loud machine.

Its only an anecdote.

Id want to get that neck body angle “right” for practical reasons more than anything.


Thanks for the reply.
I have the same observation with my guitars. My 1996 LP studio and mid 90's LP '54 custom both with big angle/high bridge sound tight and loud, while my 2014 LP '58 and my 2016 ES335 '63 with shallow angle/low bridge sound less pronounced and somewhat quiet.
 

JLee

Member
Joined
Nov 27, 2010
Messages
89
I have a SG with a shallow neck angle. Bridge is nearly against the body. Very lively and throaty sounding guitar. The string tension is surprisingly taught despite the shallow neck angle and break angle over the bridge. I actually had to raise the tailpiece a bit to reduce some of the tension. Neck is straight and action is med high. Just high enough to let the upper frets sing and not choke out on bends. Seems to go against everything I’ve ever read about guitars with shallow neck angles.
 

rick c

Active member
Joined
May 28, 2016
Messages
282
The string slinkiness as a result of angle after the saddle is in most cases another myth perpetuated on this and many other sites (almost weekly). If you have an extraordinary long string path from saddle to tail piece like on Page's double neck or my Shergold double neck on the 12 neck from zero fret and nut to the tuner, then there probably is enough extra string to add to the slinkiness but this is not a good thing as it requires the strings to be able to freely move across the saddle or nut. Skinny strings will do this OK but as many players have experienced, the thinner, wound strings sometimes pop across the nut and go out of tune.

This has been discussed many times, usually when a top wound bridge war starts (again and again). Lots of guitars with more modern bridge setups than the ancient and extremely simple, unsophisticated, 70 year old Gibson one, have strings that feed directly through the back and have relatively short and sharp string bends from ball to saddle. These guitars play just fine with great "tone" and slinkiness. Back to basic physics; the tension of a string is a function of string length, string thickness and the note to which it is tuned. Tone is highly subjective.

Lets see how much trouble this starts......
 

zacknorton

Active member
Joined
Aug 26, 2011
Messages
731
The sky is yellow and that’s a fact.
Countless fools will try to tell you it’s blue but they wallow in a cloud of ignorance.

Let’s see how helpful this is.
 

renderit

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 19, 2009
Messages
10,951
The sky is yellow and that’s a fact.
Countless fools will try to tell you it’s blue but they wallow in a cloud of ignorance.

Let’s see how helpful this is.

..........................................................It's MY damn cloud!

...................................................................GET OFF OF IT!

And what's with the 'wallow' Bud?

.....................................................You callin' me FAT?
 

frenchphil

Active member
Joined
May 30, 2010
Messages
1,223
as far as tone i dont know but playbility or feel yes for sure there is a difference

if it makes playing easier and faster then you might hear a change in tone, because your vibrato is wider and not as stiff and the same for your bends: you can get to the pitch more easily

but you loose some snap or some edge i dont know just my 2 cents from me playing a 93 standard that needed top wraping
 
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