Bow in neck

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Bow in neck

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eg.czerny

Posts: 57
Joined: Jun. 30 2005

Bow in neck

I have a 6 year old guitar that has quite a noticeable bow in the neck, more than my first which is over 40 years old and another which is 4 years old. The luthier who built is said he made it that way. Is this the "relief" I've heard about? What would be the purpose of this and how much is too much? This is a difficult guitar to play. Tough on the left hand. I was thinking that if the neck were straighter I could lower the action a little and it should play a bit easier.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 2 2013 19:44:54

jshelton5040

Posts: 1500
Joined: Jan. 17 2005

RE: Bow in neck (in reply to eg.czerny)

quote:

ORIGINAL: eg.czerny

I have a 6 year old guitar that has quite a noticeable bow in the neck, more than my first which is over 40 years old and another which is 4 years old. The luthier who built is said he made it that way. Is this the "relief" I've heard about? What would be the purpose of this and how much is too much?

Hold the sixth string at the 1st fret and 12th fret and you should see a tiny space between the string and the sixth or seventh fret. That is normal relief. If it's more than 1/2 a mm or so it's too much. There is some disagreement about the value of relief. It seems to help prevent buzzing when the action is set low.

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John Shelton - www.sheltonfarrettaguitars.com

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 2 2013 20:23:16

Anders Eliasson

Posts: 5780
Joined: Oct. 18 2006

RE: Bow in neck (in reply to eg.czerny)

If you can paddle through the mud, there´s some opinions and ideas about neck relief in this thread:
http://www.foroflamenco.com/tm.asp?m=65470&p=1&tmode=1&smode=1

To a certain point its a personal thing, but flamenco guitars tend to have less relief than classicals. I personally prefer just a few tenth of a milimeter.

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Blog: http://news-from-the-workshop.blogspot.com/

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 3 2013 6:44:53

eg.czerny

Posts: 57
Joined: Jun. 30 2005

RE: Bow in neck (in reply to eg.czerny)

Thanks John and Anders. This was surprising. I was thinking the bow was helping create a buzz. When I hold the 6th string down on the first and 12th fret there is about 1/2 mm space. When I hold down the 1st and last fret there is over 1/2 mm.

REPORT THIS POST AS INAPPROPRIATE | Date Dec. 3 2013 18:22:37

constructordeguitarras

Posts: 1677
Joined: Jan. 29 2012
From: Seattle, Washington, USA

RE: Bow in neck (in reply to eg.czerny)

I gave a similar reply (to your luthier's) but when I saw such a guitar I realized that it had bowed more on it's own. I fixed it by removing the fingerboard, inlaying a carbon fiber reinforcement bar in the neck (1/4" wide by 3/8" deep) and then gluing the fingerboard back on with a very stiff caul.