Is there a typical neck angle?

[jmrunning3]

The neck on my bass appears to angle toward the back of the bass rather than it being parallel to the body. In other words, if the top of the bass were a level plane, the neck would gradually slope toward it until the fingerboard passed through it at the nut.

 

Should the angle of the neck be closer to parallel with the body's level plane or even angle more away from it? The saddles are set very high, but the action above the fretboard itself is not very high.

 

My question is: Is there a typical (or standard) angle between the body's plane and the neck's plane or does it come down to each player's style and preference?

 

I'm not really trying to solve a problem, per se, but I was just curious if the playability might be increased with some adjustments. The only issue I am working on is fret noise when I am fretting or releasing a note.

[jeremy c]

I'm looking at a bunch of my basses on a rack. They all look like the neck is parallel to the plane of the body.

 

Some Fenders had a neck-tilt adjustment and I used this occasionally when I had one of those basses...but it moved the neck so slightly that the angle was not really noticeable.

 

The only time I've seen anything drastic was when I was trying to get a clunker bass playable and inserted shims in the neck pocket.

 

Fret noise when releasing a note really doesn't have a lot to do with the action...it's all about your technique.

[jmrunning3]

Thanks, Jeremy. That fret noise does appear to be technique-related. It mainly happens with my ring finger and particularly my pinky. I think I may go ahead and try and get the neck more level with the body by shimming a bit. That bakcward tilt, in relation to the body, is quite acute.

[Rocky McDougall]

I assume you have a removeable neck on the bass. Quite often the neck needs a very thin shim placed under it to get the correct angle. Remember, a very thin shim can make a lot of difference. Fender uses a stiff piece of cardboard many times. Start with a business card thinkness. If not enough you can fold it over and double the thickness. It does not need to be any larger than about 3/8" X 1" When the neck angle is correct, the saddles should only be at half of their height adjustment.

Rocky

[Brocko777]

I believe my luthier has used screen also for this shim...I think that you would want the tightest contact between neck and the body (neck pocket)for sustain purposes. Maybe the screen was something else. If it is more drastic have a pro look at it and maybe shave mm off of the top (furthest away from the bridge) of the pocket to give it a more natural angle. I think that would be an EXTREME fix though.

Brocko

[jmrunning3]

I took the entire bass apart last night. I cleaned, polished, and buffed everywhere. When I reattached the neck, I folded a business card in half, but that seemed to be too much, so I took it out and only inserted a single "slice". This brought the neck incredibly close to being parallel with the plane of the body (checked with a metal straight-edge)although I think it still tilts back just a hair.

 

I went a head and strung it back up, tuned it and played for a little while. I've not adfjusted the saddles yet, but I think I will play it for a few days before I make anymore adjustments.

 

One more adjustment I made was to raise the G-side of the pickup a little closer to the string. This made a huge difference in equalizing the string volumes!