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Pros and Cons of Fender vs. Gibson neck angle
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Author:  Rodger Knox [ Thu Nov 30, 2017 4:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pros and Cons of Fender vs. Gibson neck angle

Looks to me like the second has a little more break angle, and therefore a little more down force, unless this is a trick question and one has 8s and the other has 13s.

Nobody has mentioned pickups, which do come into play (pun intended).

Fender's pickups are recessed more, so the strings are closer to the top, and are pretty close to parallel with the top. That height is set by the depth of the neck pocket and the thickness on the neck heel. The pickguard is flat against the top. At the other end of the neck, it's the same thing. There's no angle on the headstock, just an offset.

Gibson's pickups sit much higher above the top, and the neck joins the body at an angle so that the strings are closer to the top near the neck than they are at the bridge, and the bridge is much taller than a Fender. The LP has a raised pickguard to compensate. At the other end of the neck, it's the same thing. There's an angle on the headstock, but no offset.

Author:  Ken McKay [ Thu Nov 30, 2017 6:43 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Pros and Cons of Fender vs. Gibson neck angle

Not a trick Roger. Assuming same strings.
My point is that these two are the same players instruments. A LP and a 345. Both vintage. It gets confusing for a player because they hear many suggestions about tone. Yet despite all the set up choices, the downward pressure is about the same.
But note that the top is a LP conversion from mid 50's and the other is a 59 ES 345. His luthier does things to make them play well but as we see the player prefers this break angle.

It is I who interprets it this way. the LP has the tailpiece all the way down with the strings top wrapped. And the ES has the TP up a few turns. The special set up differences result in equal "pressure" of the two guitars. The different bridge heights are due to the neck angle and keeping the action similar.

An electric guitar with a TOM and stop TP gets the action set and adjusted by raising and lowering the bridge. And then the tension can be adjusted by raising and lowering the TP or top wrapping the strings.

Good point about pickup height.



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