Neck angle and its relation to playability, tone, and adjustability is a critical aspect of any guitar whether it’s a flattop acoustic, a solid body electric, or an archtop.
My intention in this post is to cover flattop acoustic neck angle problems since the vast majority of neck reset jobs are performed on these instruments. I’m not going into any elaborate explanations of guitar “geometry” or how neck resets are performed but I will try to show the reader how to tell if their instrument has a bad neck angle. Whether or not the guitar needs a reset is another matter.
Simple test here; if your guitar has action that you think is too high look at the saddle (that white thingy that the strings rest on, just ahead of the bridge pins). If the amount of the saddle that protrudes above the bridge body is 1/16″ or less where the D and G strings cross, the guitar might need a neck reset to restore adjustability to the action.
Many luthiers think that 1/8″ saddle protrusion is ideal for an instrument with low action at the 12th fret. There are exceptions; Taylor, for instance likes a lower saddle for reasons I’ve never understood. In any event if you have a fairly tall saddle you likely have many years of adjustability to compensate for the nearly inevitable rise in action as the instrument ages.
If your guitar does not pass this test, don’t despair. Now it’s time to ask yourself a couple of questions… Is the guitar still comfortable to play in the first 7 frets? If the answer is yes and you rarely play any higher on the neck, then that you may not have to spend the dough. There is an amazing amount of great music played by some terrific guitarists no higher than the 7th fret…….honest. The so-called Cowboy Chords are all that many of us need.
Players that regularly use the higher reaches of the fretboard will benefit from a well-done reset, but the reality is that many guitarists won’t really notice the improvement. Some guitars will demonstrate a noticeable improvement in tone, but not all do.
On instruments with a traditional glued dovetail neck joint, the job is invasive. You just don’t want to watch a neck being steamed off, at least on your own guitar. It’s reminiscent of Count Bismarck and his famous comment about politics and sausage……you don’t want to watch either being made.
If a repair tech tells you a reset is necessary but doesn’t seem confident or has trouble explaining any aspect of the job, get a second opinion. If a shop tells you that they won’t do a reset without doing a fret job simultaneously, get a second opinion on this as well. Be prepared to spend money. Most dovetail neck joint resets will cost around $400 at the low end and some go much higher. Bolt-on neck joints generally cost less but they are not all the same and some are surprisingly complex.
A reset performed on a very old, neglected, and/or poorly repaired guitar may actually cause some other problems down the road. On some occasions, the increased stress on the bridge and soundboard brought on by a higher saddle will cause a bridge to lift or crack. Poorly glued braces may come loose and suspect bridge plates may give up the ghost.
Obviously neck resets are not cost effective on low priced guitars. If you have an inexpensive guitar with a neck angle problem there are some alternative repair solutions to keep these guitars in decent playing condition and I’ll talk about that in a future post.