Luthier Trick: Increase Sustain On Bolt-Neck Guitars

[dpaterson]

YouTube "suggested" this to me for whatever reason.

Laugh if you want but for the hell of it I tried it with one of my Jacksons.

I cannot tell you for sure that I've got increased sustain or a change in tone. I also never heard a creak or anything like that. But I can tell you that my tuning went flat (progressively flatter from the high E to the low E) and after tightening up and tuning back up to pitch I had to intonate again. Point is: SOMETHING moved. Repeated the process a second time and no change in pitch.

Make of it what you will.

 

[greekdude]

Re: Luthier Trick: Increase Sustain On Bolt-Neck Guitars

That's classic. But NEVER EVER try it on Ibanez RG that has no neck pocket support (i.e Indo made). If such an Ibanez has a problem then fix the holes and the threads before anything else. Basically you dont want no air or space in the joint.

 

[Chistopher]

Re: Luthier Trick: Increase Sustain On Bolt-Neck Guitars

I've done it to most of my guitars. I find it adds a second or two to the sustain.

 

[DavidRavenMoon]

Re: Luthier Trick: Increase Sustain On Bolt-Neck Guitars

There’s zero reason why you need more contact between the neck and body. Any transfer of vibrations are actually killing sustain.

Ideally you want all the energy from the strings to remain in the strings.

I’d wager if you recorded you hitting an open low E before and after, and then timed it, there won’t be any difference.

The neck can actually be mounted to a table and the bridge on another table and you’ll get the same amount of sustain. [emoji6] there’s no reason they need to touch each other.

That said, if you have a lose neck joint that can lead to tuning problems and anything that can vibrate or flex will kill sustain.


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[greekdude]

Re: Luthier Trick: Increase Sustain On Bolt-Neck Guitars

There’s zero reason why you need more contact between the neck and body. Any transfer of vibrations are actually killing sustain.

You want more contact, because less will mean lose neck joint, and as you say

if you have a lose neck joint that can lead to tuning problems and anything that can vibrate or flex will kill sustain.

Anyways,
I know my UV70p had a neck joint problem, and after the tech installed threaded dowels throughout the body/neck system, sustain sky rocketed.