How to Check a Guitar Neck for Warping

Warping affects both acoustic and electric guitars.

Contrary to popular belief, a guitar neck that is warped, or reaching forward due to tension from the strings, is not necessarily a bad thing. A guitar that is properly set up should feature a slight warp, and guitarists who prefer a higher action may desire even more warp. A thoroughly warped guitar neck can result in buzzing and even unplayability, however. Before you adjust your guitar's truss rod or bring it to a luthier for neck repairs, you can inspect it for warping yourself and assess how significant the warping is.

Instructions

1. Place the guitar's body so that the neck is parallel to your line of sight and look straight down it. Look to see if any of the frets sits above those next to it.

2. Turn the guitar around so that the head is touching you and look again for any disparity in the height of the frets.

3. Hold down the first and 12th (14th if you are examining an electric guitar) frets on the sixth string. Look to see if the string is touching all the frets. A very small gap (1/64 of an inch) suggests that the neck of the instrument is in good shape, while no gap implies that the neck is too straight.

4. Hold down the eighth and last frets and check again for a gap. If one appears halfway between the eighth and last frets, the guitar is warped across its body.

5. Hold down the first and last frets and see if the gap you noticed when you held down the first and 12th frets changes. If it does not change, you can simply make truss rod adjustments to fix the instrument's warping. If it does change, your guitar's neck is significantly warped over the body and may require a luthier's assistance to repair.

References

• "Thurman Guitar Page"; How to Inspect a Guitar Neck; Roger Thurman