Moving neck forward

[Dave]

Ok I'd like some opinions on doing this.
Due to using an 80 gauge as my low string on my guitar the string saddle on the bridge has a tendancy to pop up due to being set right back to get intonation right.
The easiest solution I can see to this problem is trying to move the neck forward slightly, drilling new holes into it, admittedly there isn't a lot of space to make this sort of adjustment with, would it be worth a shot or am I likely just to end up screwing my guitar up totally?

 

[Zepp88]

I wouldn't recommend doing that....

 

[scott from _actual time_]

Ok I'd like some opinions on doing this.
Due to using an 80 gauge as my low string on my guitar the string saddle on the bridge has a tendancy to pop up due to being set right back to get intonation right.
The easiest solution I can see to this problem is trying to move the neck forward slightly,

i would not mess with the neck.

what kind of bridge? if it's a flat hardtail with a spring around the intonation screw, and the spring is all squashed solid because you've got the saddle all the way back, an old Strat-player's trick is to cut the spring in half and only use half of it. that gives you more room to pull the saddle back. you can also saw a little bit off the intonation screw if it is sticking into the saddle too much.

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Jeez! What tuning are you using and on what scale? Which guitar? if it's the XL then that's bizarre as you should be able to get away with lighter strings unless you are tuning down to round F~ or so, but even then... Which hole is the saddle mounted on? If it's an edge you should have two.

Also, how high is your action, if it's quite high then I can see there being issues with intonation?

Adjusting the neck like that would really not give you much benefit, you'd have to fill the holes in the neck from the mounting screws, and then redrill, plus you'd have a gap.

Is it tension that requires the .80?

 

[djpharoah]

Don't do anything to the neck man. It will totally destroy its playability especially on a beauty like the 2077XL. What are ou tuning to that requires an 0.80 on a baritone scale guitar??

 

[Dave]

Yes this is on the 2077XL. The saddle is already mounted on the rear hole for intonation. The action is set pretty low, had already thought of shimming the neck and raising the bridge a bit but gain even the 2mm extra length it wants for the saddle to be held in place i'd have to set the angle pretty large.
Well it's only tuned to A standard currently, though am experimenting with things like drop F/C tuning with the tremol-no as well. I'm just a fairly heavy picker and i don't like the feel of lighter strings on the low end.

 

[Metal Ken]

This sounds weird for me to say, but have you tried using a lighter string? I had a 1077XL (the only difference is that it had a LoPro) and i was able to get it to intonate fine in A standard with a .068.

 

[Dave]

Yes I have used lighter strings before, but don't like them, lol. On the other hand my dad thinks we may be able to machine a longer bit to fit on the front of the saddle... After we've got half a dozen other things done and have set up the lathe, lol.

 

[Stitch]

You're absolutely nuts. An .080 at A? That/s an insane amount of tension for 27". How many springs are you using?

To be brutally honest dude, I'd tell you to buck up and learn to pick softer.

You'd be mad to fuck with a 2077XL.

 

[Michael]

I had the same problem with my UV. When my UV came, the intonation was set in the rear holes and was out for the tuning (E) I was using. I just eyeballed it to my 7620 (which was mostly set in the front holes) and then made the nessacary adjustments after that.

 

[Dave]

You're absolutely nuts. An .080 at A? That/s an insane amount of tension for 27". How many springs are you using?

Ahh it's only a couple of extra lbs over the D string with a 56 gauge
I've got 4 springs in after installing the tremol-no, I did have 5 in before that

 

[7 Dying Trees]

Man, I play in A standard am like heavy strings, and use .70's on my 25.5" guitars. I found 70 to be really tight (in combination with a 10-52 set) and good enough for heavy handed picking, so maybe try that? On 27" scale it should be more than good enough for A.

However, if you are tuning down, 80 may be feasable, but for A tuning in 27" scale that's a hell of a lot. On my (metal ken's ex) 1077 I found that playing with my usual 10-70 was just too much, so i throttled back to make the tension feel like the others. However, the strings do feel thinner, and what you're probably finding is that the strings feel lighter because of the thickness, not the actual tension!

I'd try a 70-72 to match with the 56 and see if that works better!

 

[darren]

Yeah, i was thinking .080 is overkill, unless you're tuning WAY down. You probably only need a couple of millimetres more saddle movement. You may be better off modifying the saddle and the bridge than trying to move the neck by such a tiny amount. You'd have to plug the holes in the neck and re-drill them very precisely.