Neck Angle of SG...

[gnolivos]

I was looking at my SG Standard today, from the side, and I noticed the angle of the NECK (not the headstock) was quite pronounced. I never noticed it was THAT pronounced... could someone please post a picture of their SG Standard... I need a side shot please. Just want to make sure what I am seeing here is normal. I googled but found not a single such picture

 

[tpa]

http://books.google.dk/books?id=fNY...amp;oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8 says something about it. I think it's not totally either/or since the neck angle of my guitar is less than newer SGs but still not totally flat.

 

[suicidehummer]

I believe it's 4.5 degrees, but don't quote me on that.

 

[1Way]

That's one of the standard/typical features of a Gibson. See my vid over pup tilting (10-20 seconds) to see my SG std's neck to body angle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rETGPElVwIY&feature=channel_page

I like the angle. I believe one of the reason's they did this was to make the guitar slightly wrapped around the player for improved playability. I'd guess that most electric guitar makers utilize parallel bodies and necks, so I think it's kind of a Gibson thing.

 

[gnolivos]

Oh, OK, indeed, yours is the same way.... I usually tilt the pickups by adding foam or weatherstripping behind the pup! I put it on one end of the pup only, so it tilts over towards the other end when I tighten the PUP in place...

[quote author=1Way link=topic=19335.msg234006#msg234006 date=1244759256]
That's one of the standard/typical features of a Gibson. See my vid over pup tilting (10-20 seconds) to see my SG std's neck to body angle.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rETGPElVwIY&feature=channel_page

I like the angle. I believe one of the reason's they did this was to make the guitar slightly wrapped around the player for improved playability. I'd guess that most electric guitar makers utilize parallel bodies and necks, so I think it's kind of a Gibson thing.
[/quote]

 

[revelroy]

I never paid a lot of attention to the 'neck pocket' angle but I DID notice that on my LPs and my SG classic, that the BRIDGE stood out pretty far away from the body while some of my friends' guits bridges didn't when I bought my 61 SG/LP reissue, I noticed that the NECK was WAY more parallel to the plane of the body, and resulted in the bridge being closer to the body.
I suspect that when gibson was intending to utilise some sort of vibrato system [be it maestro, or bigsby], they purposely kept the neck more parallel so as to keep the bridge lower resulting in less of a string break angle as it left the rear of the bridge.
That is better as far as keeping the integrity of te THIN bridge posts that they used to use before they came out w/ the nashville TOM posts etc. Personally, I like the 'look' of the greater neck pocket angle, as it makes one look more 'as one' w/ the guitar, but practically, having the bridge sit closer down to the body is an advantage.
Does anyone have thoughts as to my theory here, or any knowledge to confirm/deny?

 

[javamagic]

I discussed this with Lou when I did my Cippolina SG which is essentially a recreation of a 61 SG. Various figures are bandied about and the geometry of my 64 Standard works out at 2.5 degrees. Lou suggested 3 degrees as the angle used but I made it with a 2.5 degree neck angle. In retrospect I would go with the 3 degree angle as the string tension pulls the neck up leaving the bridge sitting quite close to the body at 2.5. You learn these things by trial and error when making a guitar. ;D

 

[tpa]

Just tried to measure the neck set angle of my SG, and seems to be 2.5 degrees. I had the impression that it was the variants with the flatter Schaller harmonica bridge which had the neck set at a less pronounced angle.

 

[revelroy]

correct, the harmonica bridged oned had the neck almost parallel w/ the body and also the headstock had less tilt. it all served to make the guitar out to seem 'cheap' in my opinion.
Probably the neck angle thing may have come about as a 'holdover' from gibson's FAT BODY guitars [es-350, es-5 etc] where you NEEDED the neck to angle back towards the player otherwise the body would render the neck to be too far away from your body? I theorize that the tilted neck makes the guitar look 'classier' somehow due to the association w/ the classy hollow bodied guits gibson made.. anyone else have an opinion on this?