Recommend me a neck relief measure tool

liamon

Doing a bit of tinkering and could maybe use something more scientific than eyeballing. Anyone have a recommendation for a good tool for neck relief measuring? Cheap is good. 

pt22

Capo on the 1st fret, finger on the 12-15th. This will rely on level frets. Otherwise a notched straightedge which you can find on Amazon or Ali Express pretty cheap. 

ElectricXII

A cheap capo at the first fret and a set of feeler gauges is all you need.

Hydra19

Cheap feeler gauges, I've had mine for a while and am worried they are not totally flat anymore.....anyway, Dan Erlewine recommends using a popsicle stick and gluing on a .010 gauge string, that becomes a DIY 0.010 feel gauge, which can be better than eyesight (obviously just a little part of string that's been cut)

daveyh

ElectricXII said:

A cheap capo at the first fret and a set of feeler gauges is all you need.

100% this

Tannin

Go to any car parts shop and get a set of metric feeler gauges. (Metric because it is much, much easier and less error prone for small distances.) Something like these: https://sydneytools.com.au/product/toledo-301159-feeler-gauge-tapered-10-blade-metric

ICBM

Cut the end off the new top E string, and use that as a feeler gauge. That’s the perfect relief in almost every case, regardless of gauge.

liamon

Yes sorry it’s the feeler gauges I’m looking for. Didn’t know what they were called. Thanks, have ordered some! 

liamon

ICBM said:

Cut the end off the new top E string, and use that as a feeler gauge. That’s the perfect relief in almost every case, regardless of gauge.

That is surprisingly low! 

ICBM

liamon said:

That is surprisingly low! 

It can often be even lower than that if the neck and fretting are really perfect. You don’t want it quite dead straight, but the closest to that which is possible without rattling in the low positions gives the best feel up and down the neck. The bridge may need to be raised slightly if it then chokes around the 12th fret area.

Most guitars don’t play as well as they can because they have too much relief and the bridge is then set too low to try to give a nice action.

SteveRobinson

ICBM said:

It can often be even lower than that if the neck and fretting are really perfect. You don’t want it quite dead straight, but the closest to that which is possible without rattling in the low positions gives the best feel up and down the neck. The bridge may need to be raised slightly if it then chokes around the 12th fret area.

In all my time I've never measured relief. I start with the neck straight then add whatever relief is necessary, normally very little.

jasonbone75

SteveRobinson said:

ICBM said:

It can often be even lower than that if the neck and fretting are really perfect. You don’t want it quite dead straight, but the closest to that which is possible without rattling in the low positions gives the best feel up and down the neck. The bridge may need to be raised slightly if it then chokes around the 12th fret area.

In all my time I've never measured relief. I start with the neck straight then add whatever relief is necessary, normally very little.

Agree 100% with both. I don't know anyone that has ever measured it either. I don't agree much with player's statements along the lines of "set it to my preferred relief" or "the relief I like". You set it to what the guitar requires and play it.

If a player needs more relief than the guitar requires they should probably work on their technique some more

FelineGuitars

Imperial feeler gauges with 25 or so blades, and a capo for the first fret

Work for anywhere between 0.004" - 0.014" for relief....adjust to taste

https://www.drapertools.com/product/51713/26-blade-imperial-feeler-gauge-set/

Funkfingers

Breed gnats. 

euan

pt22 said:

Capo on the 1st fret, finger on the 12-15th. This will rely on level frets. Otherwise a notched straightedge which you can find on Amazon or Ali Express pretty cheap. 

Aren’t they not particularly straight?

daveyh

Tannin said:

Go to any car parts shop and get a set of metric feeler gauges. (Metric because it is much, much easier and less error prone for small distances.) Something like these: https://sydneytools.com.au/product/toledo-301159-feeler-gauge-tapered-10-blade-metric

Metric is only easier if you don’t know how to use imperial, otherwise it’s six of one half a dozen of another. If you are doing anything with comparison to USA standards imperial is the better option. 

BillDL

ICBM said:

Cut the end off the new top E string, and use that as a feeler gauge. That’s the perfect relief in almost every case, regardless of gauge.

I don't measure relief other than sometimes for curiosity or to keep a note of it it's somebody else's guitar, however string offcuts make excellent guagues:

https://hazeguitars.com/blog/string-end-feeler-gauges

digitalkettle

Am I doing it wrong?
 - guitar tuned up and in playing position
 - left hand depresses G string at first fret
 - right hand little finger holds down G string somewhere near the body join
 - right hand first finger taps G string near the 7th/8th fret while sighting the gap (a well positioned phone screen below can help visibility)

OilCityPickups

SteveRobinson said:

ICBM said:

It can often be even lower than that if the neck and fretting are really perfect. You don’t want it quite dead straight, but the closest to that which is possible without rattling in the low positions gives the best feel up and down the neck. The bridge may need to be raised slightly if it then chokes around the 12th fret area.

In all my time I've never measured relief. I start with the neck straight then add whatever relief is necessary, normally very little.

Same here. 

ICBM

digitalkettle said:

Am I doing it wrong?
 - guitar tuned up and in playing position
 - left hand depresses G string at first fret
 - right hand little finger holds down G string somewhere near the body join
 - right hand first finger taps G string near the 7th/8th fret while sighting the gap (a well positioned phone screen below can help visibility)

That’s exactly how I do it.

fretfinder

ICBM said:

digitalkettle said:

Am I doing it wrong?
 - guitar tuned up and in playing position
 - left hand depresses G string at first fret
 - right hand little finger holds down G string somewhere near the body join
 - right hand first finger taps G string near the 7th/8th fret while sighting the gap (a well positioned phone screen below can help visibility)

That’s exactly how I do it.

Me too except I do it on the top and bottom E strings, don’t know why I just always have.