Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

[Soulcrusher_X]

Okay guys. I know I could go searching through web articles on this, but I hate reading a lot of those things because it always seems to be one person's view on the subject. I would rather like to get all of your input, good and bad on these types of designs. What are the advantages and disadvantages of all of them? Thanks

 

[DankStar]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

I love the feel of a neck through, but my ESP twisted pretty bad, now the action has to be pretty high to work. Kind of a bummer I can't just switch out the neck.

 

[JollyRoger523]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

The quality and fit of the joint is what is important. A well designed and fitted joint will be fine no matter what style it is. A poor bolt-on can be bad as can a loose set neck that's caked full of glue. Find a guitar that sounds good and plays well for you, and don't worry much about the neck joint.



* EDIT *

After reading Dank's post, there is one huge advantage of a bolt-on; you can easily replace the neck if necessary. I actually prefer bolt-ons myself.

 

[FrankyBoy]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

Bolt-on neck often give you the awesome feeling of an unfinished or oiled neck, which is pretty awesome if you ask me. Plus, bolt-on guitar cost less.

 

[Jessie's ghost]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

I'm partial to guitars with necks, yes.

 

[Jakke]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

I prefer the feel of bolt-on, they are also easier to replace if something would damage the old neck.
Soundwise, not such a big difference. People rate joints' sustain like it would be set in stone, but a well made bolt-on sustains just as well as a neck-through.

 

[Andrew Lamprecht]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

Even though my main guitar is set neck, I prefer a bolt on. It adds a little ringiness that is there that I really like.

 

[voggin]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

I'm partial to guitars with necks, yes.

I'm like Steve Martin. I like a girl with a head on her shoulders...I hate necks.

 

[CTN]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

I dislike bolt on heels.

I like the stiffness of set necks and especially neck throughs

I like the ability of neck throughs and some setnecks to have virtually no heel.

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOVE the snappiness, sizzle, and liveliness of bolt on necks.

I'm not sure what else I can say. they're all just different styles of accomplishing the same function, and they all have their own pros and cons. Comes down to personal choice. If you haven't yet made up your mind, play more guitars!

 

[SoundAt11]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

It's hard to beat the serviceability of being able to unbolt a bolt-on neck and swap it out, refinish it, shim it, or work on the guitar body (say refinish it, route for a new pickup, or sculpt down the heel).

A neck-thru is pretty easy to build and from a technical standpoint, it sure make sense to have one really long piece of wood that has the strings and pickups bolted to and makes up the neck of the guitar. The downside is that the neck wood dominates the guitar's tone. If it's a maple neck-thru, then it will be bright and compressed (I learned this the hard way).

A set neck has that smooth sustaining tone, but I'm pretty rough on guitars and I always feel nervous with set necks, like I'm going to bend the neck too much and break the joint.
I guess I've seen too many photos of "short tennon" Gibsons where the neck doesn't have a lot of surface area to hold it in place.

My favorite is "set thru", where the neck is set in a channel that is routed all the way to the bridge. Then you glue the guitar's top on top of the body and it locks the neck in place. Good luck ever replacing the neck, but the tone is killer! The beauty is that the neck only extends halfway down the body, so if you have a mahogany body and a maple neck, the maple neck won't dominate your tone like it would with a neck-thru.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

The way I look at it, there is not a ton of difference. The biggest things for me are that you can swap necks on a bolt on, which makes them fun and practical. I don't prefer one over the other, though I will say that bolt-on versions of body shapes that are traditionally set necks usually don't cut it to my tastes. There is a certain "classiness" to a set neck. I have come to associate that with certain body styles, and they just plain feel wrong as bolt necks. It kind of goes the other way too, but I think I could handle something like a set neck or neck-through Strat a lot better than I could handle something like a bolt-neck SG.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

If the bolt-on heel or set-neck LP-style heel inhibits your playing, you have a technique issue, because Yngwie isn't bothered by the Strat's "bulky" heel, nor was Rhoads bothered by the LP's "chunky" heel. It's really that simple.

A poor setup or poor build of either type will make the guitar perform poorly. Case in point: Arbor made several neckthrough, set-neck, and bolt-ons in the 80s. Seen any "big names" playing them?

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

I do particularly dislike the lack of 'liveliness' in a friend's prestige RG neck through. With the same gauge strings, my strat is about twice as loud unplugged which doesn't exactly speak volumes about the whole neck through deal. Easy to play, just sounds really dead.

 

[DrNewcenstein]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

That could be caused by the quality of hardware on the guitar.

However, an electric's acoustic quality is rarely, if ever, any indication of its amplified sound quality.

 

[tonello]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

Well say I own a set neck Strat style guitar with a 25.5 inch scale and a Mayhem set.

On the other hand I own a bolt on Strat style guitar with a 25.5 inch scale and a Mayhem set.

On the third hand I own a neck through Strat style guitar with a 25.5 inch scale and a Mayhem set.

Each Guitar is a mahogany body and neck with no carve top, and ebony boards. All three are satin black with 1 volume with a 3 way switch. They also each feature tune o matic bridges with stopbars, graphite nuts, and locking tuners. This is to eliminate as many tonal variations as possible from the guitars (what I mean is that if you take as many variables out of the equation (body shape, bridge type, paint etc.) then you get a surer answer to the question).

So as we know the set neck provides better sustain than the bolt on, and the neck through even better.

The neck through's tone is a little bright. This is because when the strings vibrate, they don't resonate throughout the entire guitar because of the glue holding the two sides of the body on.

The set neck is less bright because glue isn't preventing the strings from fully resonating with the body. This is because on the neck the strings vibrate, and on the body the strings vibrate. The glue absorbs less resonance because there is less glue to be absorbed through.

The bolt on logically would be the least bright, but that isn't true. The wood on the neck fits a little loosely into the slot on the body. Because the neck being held in is dependent on fitting snugly into the body of a set neck there is more surface area making contact with the body, therefore transferring more vibrations throughout the body.

The bolt on has a little bit of space (tiniest) between it and the body so less surface area makes contact, and therefore the only spot to transfer vibrations through the body are at the base of where the screws are put into the neck through the body.

Now whether or not the makes a difference in the tone to you depends on your style and how much you despise Gibson or Fender. I prefer the set neck because it's Gibson's style and I'm a Gibson guy. The bolt on has it's good points (there is actually evidence to suggest that a bolt on is a stronger joint than a set neck), but a set neck is for me. Hope my dissertation helps.

 

[formula73]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

However, an electric's acoustic quality is rarely, if ever, any indication of its amplified sound quality.

ppffttffftt.

 

[ItsaBass]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

OK. So if we aren't as good as so-and-so's guitar shredder heroes at playing around a guitar's heel, we have a technique issue. Good to know!

 

[Edgecrusher]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

Bolt-on neck often give you the awesome feeling of an unfinished or oiled neck, which is pretty awesome if you ask me. Plus, bolt-on guitar cost less.

its possible to have any neck finished this way irregardless of how its attached to the body.

 

[Powdered Toast Man]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

OMG NOT ANOTHER THREAD LIKE THIS AGAIN.

 

[verbotenco]

Re: Set neck vs Bolt on vs Neck through

It's hard to beat the serviceability of being able to unbolt a bolt-on neck and swap it out, refinish it, shim it, or work on the guitar body (say refinish it, route for a new pickup, or sculpt down the heel).

A neck-thru is pretty easy to build and from a technical standpoint, it sure make sense to have one really long piece of wood that has the strings and pickups bolted to and makes up the neck of the guitar. The downside is that the neck wood dominates the guitar's tone. If it's a maple neck-thru, then it will be bright and compressed (I learned this the hard way).

A set neck has that smooth sustaining tone, but I'm pretty rough on guitars and I always feel nervous with set necks, like I'm going to bend the neck too much and break the joint.
I guess I've seen too many photos of "short tennon" Gibsons where the neck doesn't have a lot of surface area to hold it in place.

My favorite is "set thru", where the neck is set in a channel that is routed all the way to the bridge. Then you glue the guitar's top on top of the body and it locks the neck in place. Good luck ever replacing the neck, but the tone is killer! The beauty is that the neck only extends halfway down the body, so if you have a mahogany body and a maple neck, the maple neck won't dominate your tone like it would with a neck-thru.

Very informative. Thanks man!