Micro tilt necks - are they tone suckers or not?

chris77

My strat has one and it's screw is slightly extended, so the neck doesn't sit flush in it's pocket. My logic is that the guitar will be more resonant if the neck and body fit snuggly together, no? So the best option, I think, should be to retract the micro-tilt screw so that the neck can be screwed directly to the body, but this will probably make setting the action a bit trickier as the saddles are pretty low as is.

Best option I guess would be to make the adjustments and test it to see what the results are, but she's set up perfectly now and I don't wan't to mess that up if it probably won't make a difference.

Any thoughts? Or what else can I try to improve the guitar's acoustic resonance. (She's fine plugged in, but unplugged my Tele rings like a bell compared to her.)

AlanRatcliffe

chris77 wrote: My strat has one and it's screw is slightly extended, so the neck doesn't sit flush in it's pocket.

I'm not a huge fan for that reason. They make setting the neck tilt easy, but at the expense of wood to wood contact. I prefer fitting a wooden shim if some tilt is needed.

Any thoughts? Or what else can I try to improve the guitar's acoustic resonance. (She's fine plugged in, but unplugged my Tele rings like a bell compared to her.)

Well firstly compare apples to apples. You're comparing a hardtail to a floating trem. Try screw your bridge down so it sits flat on the body and you have no pullback on the trem. Obviously a no-go if you need pullback though.

Josh-Hayes

Wood to wood contact, and a full pocket shim if needed, is the ideal solution.

If you are interested or need to make some adjustments there is a great PG article here which will help you:
http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/19686-guitar-shop-101-how-to-shim-a-bolt-on-neck

Copied from said article:

Some electric guitars have a “micro-tilt” assembly in the neck pocket. By inserting a hex wrench through a hole in the neck plate, you can push an Allen screw against a metal disc embedded in the neck heel and adjust the neck angle without using a shim. This invention, in my opinion, is a great way to force the end of the neck to warp or bow. If your guitar has micro-tilt hardware, I’d remove the Allen adjustment screw from the body and simply bolt the neck flat against the pocket. If the neck angle is too low, use a full-pocket shim to correct the problem.

Skylark

I've found if I block my start bridge , ie lock it down, the guitar loses some part of the tone , it seems to get less airiness or some part of the twang goes. I have no need for a tremolo or the issues that come with leaving it floating but with the trem blocked it doesn't sound the same. Maybe it's something to do with the different way a blocked trem responds to vibrato or string bends?

chris77

Thanks gents.

What will be the best way to make a shim?

Josh-Hayes

Check that article. I found it very helpful. (pg. 3)

IceCreamMan

Right, off the bat I aint a luthier nor claim to be na expert on this so set me right where I falter ....

Recently I noticed the lil hex screw on my strat was loose and was shutteling around in the chute so before touching this I did a lot of research first (in fear of cocking something up) .. Firstly the concept was not Fender's, he borrowed the idea from daneelctro and used it on fenders, music man and G&L's. The concept has been widely used by Fender for the better part of 50 years now.

OP- yr logic would be correct regarding reasonance, absolutely and Alan's post is correct using a wood shim. There will be work involved here and the results of the labour may be small but it would make a difference. SEcond point is that tone is subjective, not sure the tilt screw is a tone sucker per se but a tone alterer , tone may actually be improved to some ears (if that makes sense)

Anyway, after my reseach I tightened the screw to make it snug without actually amending the positioning of the neck relative to the body so if anyone else experiences this , just lightly screw it in ...cos the vibration was driving me mal

Malkav

I find I have the same qualm with Warwick's Adjust-a-nut, pretty much every Warwick I've dealt with that's had a normal nut retrofitted has always sounded better.