impact of compound radius necks on action?

[loog]

Just wondered if anyone had experience of how compound radius such as warmoth impact the action, and how it affects setup - I imagine height adjustable saddles help?

Thanks.

[axmaker]

Originally Posted by loog

Just wondered if anyone had experience of how compound radius such as warmoth impact the action, and how it affects setup - I imagine height adjustable saddles help?

Thanks.

I don't know about Warmouth, but I built one with 10" to 12". I needed to use an LSR nut with a tune-o-matic bridge. I was the only option, but it played really nice. Good luck.


Here is the build thread for it:
http://www.tdpri.com/forum/telecaste...ele-build.html

[RomanS]

Theoretically, a compound radius should allow for a lower action than a straight radius - think about it:
The strings on a guitar neck follow the sides of a cone (not a cylinder) - because they are spaced more narrowly at the nut than at the bridge; and a compound radius fretboard is also the side of a cone; a straight-radiussed fretboard is part of the side of a cylinder (which, as said, the strings are not); so, on an ideal compound radius, the strings will exactly follow the shape of the fretboard at the same distance all the way along the neck - on a straight radius there's no way that this would be geometrically possible!

Taking theory aside, I have two Warmoth necks with 10-16" radius, and could set my action REALLY low without any noise, I wanted to (I set mine slightly higher than what would be possible, because I find that a higher action makes "gripping" the strings easier with your fingertips when doing string bends).

[woodman]

the compound radius necks i've used give a lot better action up past the 12th fret. dunno why that's so, but it's been the case with all four i've tried.

[Mojotron]

Right - what RomanS mentioned, the strings from the bridge to nut make the shape of the side of a cone. So, if the fretboard matches the string location more closely you should be able to get better action.

I have a number of Warmoth 10-16 necks too and what I notice (comparing to other necks with straight radius from 12" to 16") is that the lowest available action is really a factor of how good of a fret-level job you have.

So - I would say, as long as you have a straight radius of 12" or greater - it makes little difference.