Measuring Your Electric Guitar’s Neck Relief

If you’re a do-it-yourself type of person, you might feel comfortable doing some routine checkups on your guitar of choice. One of these is measuring the neck relief. It’s a good thing to do if you’re noticing some new fret buzzing going on. It requires two things: A capo and a feeler gauge. Basically, the neck relief is the curve along the full length of the neck. Relief is measured by placing a capo at the first fret, pressing down on the string at the last fret with your left hand (or right hand if you’re left-handed) and then measuring the gap between the bottom of the high E string and the top of the fret (not the fingerboard). At the deepest point of the curve, which is usually at about the 7th or 8th fret on an electric guitar, this should measure between 0.005 to 0.020 inch (or 0.015 to 0.05 centimeter). If you measure no relief, the neck may be convex. At that point, you’ll need to adjust the truss rod. We prefer to have a qualified guitar tech do this kind of job, but for you brave souls out there, check to see where your guitar’s truss rod adjustment is, either at the headstock or at the heel of the neck. Your guitar probably shipped with a truss rod adjustment tool. Slackening the the rod by turning the nut counterclockwise increases relief, while tightening it decreases relief. If you choose to make these adjustments, remember that you want to just do it a tiny bit at a time. Tightening or loosening too much can lead to much bigger problems, so go slow and easy!