How to read a ruler

[Whitebeard]

And, make sure the hook is tight. I have old tapes that the end will slide 1 or 2/16” because the rivets have worn loose. Not a big deal measuring a 2x4. When I must use a tape for something like this, I lay it across and put the 1” mark on one side, not the hook.

I've always measured from the 1" line because of the looseness of the hook.

 

[Long_Ghost]

Having been a land surveyor my only tape uses metric inches (10” to a foot) and 1/100 graduations I have to count each tick on an imperial tape. I’m no help at all.

 

[Peegoo]

Reading a Vernier caliper is easy and dead-nuts accurate for any guitar stuff.

Batteries not included!

Here's a video so easy to understand that even I can follow along:

 

[slabhappie]

I've always measured from the 1" line because of the looseness of the hook.

The 'looseness' is there by design: compensation for outside, and inside measurements.

Any deviations between measurements made with the hook, and measurements made 'burning an inch' (measuring from the 1-inch mark), are likely caused by a bent hook (caused by say, dropping the tape measure).

 

[Gardo]

Right, you were taught that by somebody who doesn't understand why the hook slides. You're getting an accurate measurement doing it that way, but making it harder than it needs to be, especially if you need to measure something longer than your arm span.

Actually I was taught in a machine shop.
I was required to do layouts by hand to +/- .015”

 

[slabhappie]

for accurate reading, "burn the one" if you are using a tape measure. Put the 1" mark to the left on the edge of the neck and read that measurement, and subtract 1. It takes the tape hook sloppyness out of the equation. A little loose in the pocket won't effect much, the screws do most of the work. Good luck, name brand necks are usually spot on, Amazon no brand necks can be good, but the can be off spec.

Not, "sloppiness"---see, 'looseness' above.

 

[Full-Tilt-Tele]

For starters; Every neck is tapered down, from the 'Heel', to the 'Nut'. Looking at your image, the markings are reading different from the top markings to the bottom markings. i.e., 2 3/8" and 2 7/32"... Hence, it's best to measure the width close to the bottom of the 'Heel', just above the rounded corners, measured with the lower edge of your tape for accuracy.

Note: For best accuracy, use a Caliper...

View attachment 1407537

 

[TRexF16]

And, make sure the hook is tight. I have old tapes that the end will slide 1 or 2/16” because the rivets have worn loose. Not a big deal measuring a 2x4. When I must use a tape for something like this, I lay it across and put the 1” mark on one side, not the hook.

Actually the hook on a steel tape measure is supposed to slide. It should not be tight. It is designed to slide fore and aft by exactly the thickness of the hook. This is so your measurements will be accurate whether you are measuring inside or outside dimensions. If the hook were tight and unmoving, either the inside or outside measurement would be off by the thickness of the hook, depending on which side it was calibrated to.

Been gone a while fellas - nice to be back.

Cheers,
Rex

 

[Mowgli]

Having inherited and acquired at yard sales, estate sales, etc. a fair number of rigid, flexible, clear and opaque plastic and metal rules, tape measures and calipers (both analog and digital) and wooden folding rulers I was curious how many of these like measuring tools agreed with one another and a known standard that I had in my possession. I didn't test the folding rulers but, as best as I could, I compared the others to the only real precision blocks I had (metal 1-2-3 blocks and some precision metal spacing blocks).

My digital and analog calipers agreed with each other as best as I could reasonably measure their precision. And their accuracy using the blocks was also spot on. As such, I trust both of these tools because they measured the 1-2-3 blocks and spacers as expected. Do your own measurements here and convince yourself; your calipers may be different than everyone else's. If I need small precision measurements I tend to use my digital calipers (or, less commonly, a Starrett dial indicator for different types of measurements).

My rulers and tape measures were variable; about 1/2 of the rulers agreed with each other and the blocks while ~ 2/3 of the tape measures agreed with the blocks.

The rulers that agreed with one another were generally the older ones, including an old architect's ruler. The cheap appearing plastic and a couple of the metal rulers were simply off compared to the one's mentioned above; especially those used for fabric measurements. So I separated them and use them as straight edges as needed.

A couple of comments here that are important.

<> Tape measures tend to have an elongated concave surface when facing you. As such, the actual mark on the edge of the tape is not always directly apposed (in direct contact) with the edge or mark one is attempting to measure. Any separation between the tape's mark and the site you are trying to measure has the potential to cause a "user operator" error known as parallax error. Assuming normal binocular vision, one can mitigate this parallax error by making sure the tape marking and the site to be measured are in direct contact with each other AND one closes one eye while moving one's head back and forth, L<->R over the measurement site until the tape marking lines up with site. Similar to how some align a piece of wood with a cutting blade on a bandsaw or table saw when a fence in not employed. NOTE: This is why analog multimeters (VOMs), like the later series Simpson 260's, started using "mirrored" backs on their dials; to help mitigate parallax measurement errors.

<> An old carpenter/shop teacher friend of my father told me to never let the spring of a tape measure retract a tape measure all the way quickly. He explained that this causes repeated trauma to the end of the tape where the rivets of the hook within the hole bump up against the metal tape and, over time, would widen that hole slightly such that measurements slowly become increasingly inaccurate. So to preserve the accuracy of the tape measure, never let the hook slam up against the housing of the tape measure when retracting the tape!

<> Regarding the OP's image... To my eyes, the lens of the camera was not positioned directly over the site of measurement. It appeared to be slightly to the right of the site where the measurement marks were located. As such, a tiny amount of non-alignment of the tape's marking with the edge of the neck could result in a reading that is less accurate than one where the lens of the image is "orthogonal to the plane (perpendicular to the plane)." I suspect this may be the cause of the discrepant claims of the width of the base of the neck.

If it was me, I would use my digital calipers.

My 2 cents.

 

[Cpt Adama]

I haven't seen a tape measure that only measures inches in 40 years, when my grandad used one. Have quick look at things called 'millimeters', they're really useful.

That depends on what your doing. If your building a house in the U.S., metric tape measures are useless, as all blueprints and building materials are in imperial.

 

[52tele69]

This is kind of an embarrassing question...how does this measurement read?

View attachment 1407537

I am looking at this neck from Reverb and want to see how it compares to the width of my current neck (measured with digital calipers) at 2.16 inches.

Its' 2 3/8 inches, not 2 3/16

 

[scottser]

That depends on what your doing. If your building a house in the U.S., metric tape measures are useless, as all blueprints and building materials are in imperial.

Yeh, i live in Ireland. We had the Imperial system up until the 70s so my generation grew up with both conventions, so our tape measures have both. Our core building materials are still the 8 x 4 ft sheet of ply and the 4 x 9 inch block. Timber posts, battens and insulation comes in Imperial so we all still use it. We even still refer to a half litre of beer as a pint lol

 

[Monoprice99]

Unfortunately, a tape measure, a lot of rulers & yardsticks don't have the markings for anything lower than 1/16 inch increments. If you look at the guitar measuring tools, there are mm (1/25.4 inch) increments, there are also 64ths increments. Digital Calipers are the most accurate of the measuring tools, assuming that the +/- tolerances for error is thousandths of an inch. Shims and/or sandpaper are only as good as the person using either can get a perfect fit. At a certain point, 1/1000th of an inch, 1/2 of that most likely needs to be sanded or shimmed on both sides of the heels depth, that or the neck pocket sides for depth would have to be an adjustment for an alteration.

 

[trev333]

I'm bi-measuremental....I can and do use both imperial/metric with ease....

don't change tapes mid stream.... use the same tape throughout a job for consistency...

 

[Guitar Quackery]

This is kind of an embarrassing question...how does this measurement read?

View attachment 1407537

I am looking at this neck from Reverb and want to see how it compares to the width of my current neck (measured with digital calipers) at 2.16 inches.

This is a build-a-shack level measuring tool. Not the type of tool used in luthery.

But to answer the question, it read a little bit proud of 2-3/8" on the upper side of the tape measure and it reads 2-7/16" on the bottom side.

This discrepancy alone should tell us that this is not the way to measure a guitar neck.

 

[badinfinities]

To those who keep saying the top of the tape measure 2 3/8", please refer to the graphic below. 3/8" is 12/32". The OP's photo clearly shows a measurement somewhere around 3/16" and 7/32" - complicated by the tape hook and the parallax nature of the photo.

 

[dwhutchens]

And, make sure the hook is tight. I have old tapes that the end will slide 1 or 2/16” because the rivets have worn loose. Not a big deal measuring a 2x4. When I must use a tape for something like this, I lay it across and put the 1” mark on one side, not the hook.

The hook should not be tight even on a brand new tape. The hook slides on the rivets the distance equal to the thickness of the hook tip. This is so inside measurements and outside measurements are as accurate as possible. A tape is a carpentry tool not an engineering tool. It can become worn to the point that the hook moves excessively and can cause the measurement to be off.

 

[Donthav1]

Its' 2 3/8 inches, not 2 3/16

No, it's 2 3/16." There are six 32nd of an inch marks from the 2 to the end of the neck.

An easy way to convert a fraction to a decimal is to divide the fraction on itself: 3÷16=0.1875. To convert a decimal to a fraction, at least for measurements, multiply the decimal number by 32. 0.16x32=5.14, or more or less 5/32 of an inch. The caliper measured 2 5/32," that point on the neck is 2 6/32."

 

[Peegoo]

I'm bi-measuremental....I can and do use both imperial/metric with ease....

don't change tapes mid stream.... use the same tape throughout a job for consistency...

A question for all you metric fanboiz that chimed in about how great millimeters are:

Are they different sizes in different countries?

hahahahaha



..

 

[trev333]

you get what you pay for..... never seen any bad tapes down here...

stupid fractions...hhahahahahahahah...

show me a US tape with fractions...