Bare Knuckle Pickups Forum

Forum Ringside => Guitars, Amps and Effects => Topic started by: Plenum n Heather on April 17, 2013, 10:06:20 PM

Title: Do all Gibson Les Pauls/SG's have a 12" neck radius?
Post by: Plenum n Heather on April 17, 2013, 10:06:20 PM
I am about to put new (heavier) strings on my SG and do a setup, but I am curious about the neck radius. It looks like all LP's and SG's have a 12" neck radius. Is this true?

Mine is a rather odd example, as it's a 1980 R-1.

Thanks!

(http://i431.photobucket.com/albums/qq33/Phantom_Isle/SG.jpg) (http://s431.photobucket.com/user/Phantom_Isle/media/SG.jpg.html)
Title: Re: Do all Gibson Les Pauls/SG's have a 12" neck radius?
Post by: Philly Q on April 17, 2013, 10:54:05 PM
12" is certainly Gibson's standard radius, but I'm a bit hesitant to say all SGs and LPs have that radius because it's Gibson, and Gibson do weird things.
Title: Re: Do all Gibson Les Pauls/SG's have a 12" neck radius?
Post by: Plenum n Heather on April 17, 2013, 10:57:16 PM
Not nearly as weird at Fender!

I am having serious trouble finding recommended settings for neck relief of the SG, too. Anyone know any good resources? Fender's site has a great setup guide.
Title: Re: Do all Gibson Les Pauls/SG's have a 12" neck radius?
Post by: TheyCallMeVolume on April 18, 2013, 04:35:17 PM
There has to be some exceptions (intentionally or otherwise) but the norm, as Philly said, is definitely 12.
Title: Re: Do all Gibson Les Pauls/SG's have a 12" neck radius?
Post by: gwEm on April 18, 2013, 05:41:54 PM
surely you can measure this one yourself by drawing a part of a circe of 12" radius with a pencil and some string and making a rudimentary template.

my gibson V90 has what feels like a very flat radius. i never measured it, but suppose it must be 16"(?).
Title: Re: Do all Gibson Les Pauls/SG's have a 12" neck radius?
Post by: Philly Q on April 18, 2013, 06:00:25 PM
Quote from: gwEm on April 18, 2013, 05:41:54 PM
surely you can measure this one yourself by drawing a part of a circe of 12" radius with a pencil and some string and making a rudimentary template.

Not as simple as it sounds though, drawing your 12" circle is easy, but it's extremely difficult to cut your template accurately enough to measure reliably, even over a section the width of a fretboard.  Man plus scissors is not precision tooling!
Title: Re: Do all Gibson Les Pauls/SG's have a 12" neck radius?
Post by: gwEm on April 19, 2013, 11:04:24 AM
sounds like your speaking from a position of experience there Philly!
Title: Re: Do all Gibson Les Pauls/SG's have a 12" neck radius?
Post by: Philly Q on April 19, 2013, 12:51:41 PM
Well, sort of, I've done a bit of arts and crafts in my time.  :lol:

If you take a 2" section from the circumference of a 12" radius circle it's not far off a straight line.  If you take a 2" section from the circumference of a 9.5" radius circle it's still not far off a straight line.  Add in a bit of "scissor wobble"...... and there's just no way you can make a useful measuring tool that way.

On the other hand, you could just get a set of radius gauges from StewMac.  They're even quite cheap.
Title: Re: Do all Gibson Les Pauls/SG's have a 12" neck radius?
Post by: Plenum n Heather on April 19, 2013, 01:53:45 PM
I have a set of radius gauges. :)

But they are useless if you don't know what your starting point should be!