Neck joint type and sturdiness

[Wayne27]

Which neck joint type is more sturdy and will hold more weight, bolt-on or set-in(glued) neck? Also which one will last longer?

 

[Mincer]

Hold weight? It really shouldn't be bearing any weight no matter how it is constructed. And there are drawbacks to every design: Gibsons, with set necks, usually have angled headstocks which can break. Fenders can get stripped if you unbolt the neck a lot. They should all 'last' long provided you take care of it. Guitars that are 70 years old are still being played.

 

[esandes]

By sturdy, I think of resonance in the neck while strumming chords. After all, what better way to feel/know sturdiness besides bashing the guitar like a rock star. I've had a few bolt-ons that don't resonate so well in the neck, compared to a neck-thru Les Paul.

Not to say all neck-thru is more strudy than all bolt-on. My G&L has a lot of neck resonance not unlike my custom shop LP.

 

[Wayne27]

Hold weight? It really shouldn't be bearing any weight no matter how it is constructed. And there are drawbacks to every design: Gibsons, with set necks, usually have angled headstocks which can break. Fenders can get stripped if you unbolt the neck a lot. They should all 'last' long provided you take care of it. Guitars that are 70 years old are still being played.

I meant the weight of the body of the electric guitar.

 

[Securb]

By sturdy, I think of resonance in the neck while strumming chords.

I feel resonance has more to do with the size and construction of the neck. My Les Paul with the thick 50s neck is without a doubt my most resonant and best-sustaining neck. Unplugged, my Parker Fly carbon fly neck is the least resonant, but it sounds amazing plugged in. I do not think the acoustic properties of a guitar unplugged directly correlate to how it will sound plugged in. So many other pieces contribute to the overall sound, pickups, bridges, fretboard material, electronics...

 

[Edgecrusher]

Which neck joint type is more sturdy and will hold more weight, bolt-on or set-in(glued) neck? Also which one will last longer?

I'm not sure where you are going with this. The fact of the matter is it depends. Not all neck joints of the same type are created equal. In general if you have an issue a bolt on is easier to repair but all types of joints if they are well constructed have been proven reliable for anything other than outright abuse or random catastrophic accidents.

 

[GuitarStv]

The most resonant guitar I've got is a semi-hollow Epiphone Dot with a pretty chunky set neck. The second most resonant guitar is a Charvel So Cal with a pretty thin bolt-on neck in a tight neck pocket. I don't think bolt-on vs set really makes much difference compared to other factors of the guitar's construction.

 

[orpheo]

My guitars all have the same neck pocket. What differs is the method I hold it in: glue or screws. I notice a difference in feel of the guitar, perhaps. But difference in strength or sustain? No. Not really, no.

 

[ErikH]

Made properly, both will be strong enough and last just as long as the other.

 

[Seashore]

I meant the weight of the body of the electric guitar.

The body weighs a few pounds - that's negligible compared to the force of the strings, which is around 100 pounds of tension. I've seen a few acoustics where the top has started to pull up, and I've seen one electric IRL that had begun to collapse around the neck joint. In that case, it was an old luthite Ergodyne and the material around the neck joint had bent - but the joint itself was still solid from what I could see.

 

[RanchManSandy]

Unless your strap connects to the neck somewhere, like how some people wear acoustics, the weight of the body is kinda irrelevant. The neck doesn't like, support the body weight in any meaningful way, just the string tension.

 

[Sam SG]

I know Gibson has the short and long tenon joints. My LP Jr DC has the short tenon joint and I guess those are pretty fragile as in drop it and the neck comes off...or so I'm told.