Low neck overstand problem?

[polkat]

I'm starting to work on a violin that has a low neck overstand. It sits only about 2mm above the belly. Is this considered a problem? I understand that the average is about 6mm. I could pull the neck and shim it under the button I suppose, but is the work involved worth it? Thanks!

[stradofear]

If it's a nice normal model, it's definitely worth it. Slap on a new board while you're at it, for double-goodness.

[polkat]

It's an old, lower value Chek fiddle which I'm doing some minor fix up on. Not great, but not real bad either. It actually played pretty nicely with the small overstand. Appears to have had a small fingerboard pull up at some point (has about a 1mm shim between the top and neck), probably to compensate. .

[Martin McClean]

You intend shimming the sides of the mortise then?

What about doing a neckgraft? I've the same problem with a Francois Berzoni- I wouldn't consider a neckgraft only I probably need the practice!

[stradofear]

If it's one of those Czech things, I'm not sure. I have had mixed results setting them to "proper" standards. More board will help, though

[Brad Dorsey]

"I'm starting to work on a violin that has a low neck overstand. It sits only about 2mm above the belly. Is this considered a problem? I understand that the average is about 6mm. I could pull the neck and shim it under the button I suppose, but is the work involved worth it? Thanks!"

2mm is considered too low for the overstand. Another possibility for raising it would be to put a shim between the neck and the fingerboard if that can be done while achieving a correct fingerboard projection.

[polkat]

Okay, so I added a shim of about 3mm under the fingerboard (just a straight shim, not tapered-the whole neck was a bit thin to begin with) and now I have about 5mm of overstand. Not perfect, but not too bad. The problem is that now the bridge end of the fingerboard sits about 24mm above the belly. I understand that 21mm is standard. I can live with 24mm, so I guess the next question is; what is considered the highest a bridge can be? Thanks!

[FiddleDoug]

That 3 mm shim must make the neck awfully thick. Or was the neck a bit thin to start with? Everything has to be looked at as a whole.

Overstand too low, what's the neck angle and current bridge height? Options?- reset neck? shim on FB (wedge or no wedge)? I suppose one compromise might be to angle the wedge down a bit and lose a bit of overstand, but that still leaves you with a thick FB . Don't you just love puzzles? Have fun with it. Let us know how this works out. Pictures would be nice if possible.

[Brad Dorsey]

"The problem is that now the bridge end of the fingerboard sits about 24mm above the belly."

The height above the top of the fingerboard projected to the bridge position should be about 27 mm. What is it? The height of the end of the fingerboard above the top doesn't really matter.

[polkat]

Yes, I did end up with a pretty thick neck after adding the shim. Today I carved the neck back down to about standard thickness, and it feels much better now, and sounds good. The projection is a bit high at about 30mm, but it was an experiment anyway. It really needs a new neck set at the proper angle, but I don't have all my tools at present. Anybody got a loose neck?

[~ Ben Conover]

'' I'm starting to work on a violin that has a low neck overstand. It sits only about 2mm above the belly. Is this considered a problem? ''

Do you mean that overstand is 2mm at the table edge, or the fingerboard is 2mm above the belly arch ?

The overstand could not be 2mm given a normal neck angle and a normal belly arch.

Show us a photo of the overstand.

[fiddlecollector]

'' I'm starting to work on a violin that has a low neck overstand. It sits only about 2mm above the belly. Is this considered a problem? ''

Do you mean that overstand is 2mm at the table edge, or the fingerboard is 2mm above the belly arch ?

The overstand could not be 2mm given a normal neck angle and a normal belly arch.

Show us a photo of the overstand.

Glad you mentioned that,i was going to

If the neck overstand was 2mm and you put in a 3mm shim ,id expect the projection height to be more like 40mm,if the fiddle was usable before you started.