Starting neck angle

[Wasted4440]

Hi everyone,
I'm building a bass, and have been using a couple of ways to figure out a rough angle to set my bolt on neck at. I come up numbers between 0.3-0.4 degrees, and was wondering if this sounds like a reasonable starting point.

One reason I'm doing a bolt on is so that if it turns out my angle is too shallow, I can put a full-pocket shim in the neck pocket to correct it. I hope to avoid that problem at the get go however. Thanks for the feedback.

 

[gmjhowe]

You can shim under the bolts in the neck pocket to adjust the angle if needed. I recently did a build where I put the neck pocket in perfectly flat, than just added a tiny amount of shim under the near bolts to add enough angle.

 

[JustForSport]

It depends on how high the top of the fingerboard/fretboard is above the bass body and how high the saddles are going to be. 1 degree or less should be enough in most cases. Many saddles cannot go as low as the fret height.

 

[96tbird]

Zero degrees. Just cut it the correct depth. Shim from there if required. Depth is exactly the same as angle. If it is sitting high enough that if you can lay the strings on the fretboard and the saddles are still a very little above the plate, it's perfect. There is no angle required if you get that heel depth right.

measure carefully and go flat. easier than milling an angled pocket.

 

[joselorellano]

Zero degrees. Just cut it the correct depth. Shim from there if required. Depth is exactly the same as angle. If it is sitting high enough that if you can lay the strings on the fretboard and the saddles are still a very little above the plate, it's perfect. There is no angle required if you get that heel depth right.

measure carefully and go flat. easier than milling an angled pocket.

This...

 

[jamro217]

You may consider posting this type of question in the luthier's corner. You did (and will) get good information here, but the people who's advice you're seeking are usually there.