Neck-through and set-neck

[Argos]

Ironic isn't it? Most shredders usually go the Ibanez or ESP way, not to mention the pop artists or hard rock bands who usually favour Gibson or Fender... which can be considerably cheaper and "toneless" compared to Custom USA made guitars... (probably).

I think you're making some huge generalizations there and that pretty solid examples can be readily found that counter all of that. There are plenty of death metal players who use Gibsons, plenty of people who shred on Jacksons, etc. I think that certain genres having a preference for this or that guitar can boil down to lots of different reasons. Even economic reasons need to be taken into account.

People who can afford custom made or 'Masterbuilt' (in Fender terminology) guitars will play them, and people who can't won't. I don't really think that genre is influential in how expensive your guitar is.

[fett]

Don't buy into the myth that neck-thru construction gives more sustain than set neck or bolt-on. Also, neck-thru seems to be a little brighter.

A friggin electric guitar is a platform. Add the pups and the amp and can you really tell the difference?:ROTF: I guess, if you lose all the effects and the amp you might be able to hear a difference unplugged. I know I can. But, I play lying in bed with an unplugged guitar. It has always been and will always be the "Neck".

[Argos]

dude, chill it wasn't advice. it is a commonly know fact. whether you like it or not, you seem to like following around my post, and try and put me down, no breast milk for you i suppose.

but all jokes aside, it is hype, people talk up neck thru, and thus they are famous. but i won't say anything because i like all 3 construction methods. But i like the feel of neck thru, and the over all feel, heavy and sturdy.

No, you just happen to say a lot of stuff that I disagree with

[kelly user]

A friggin electric guitar is a platform. Add the pups and the amp and can you really tell the difference?:ROTF: I guess, if you lose all the effects and the amp you might be able to hear a difference unplugged. I know I can. But, I play lying in bed with an unplugged guitar. It has always been and will always be the "Neck".

[Valgrath_Blak]

Maybe I could help here with a thread I started in the Seymour Duncan Forum about this topic.

http://www.seymourduncan.com/forum/showthread.php?t=102802

The guy answering is a guitar builder if I'm not mistaken.

[dg]

Tim (Zerberus) is a member here, too, and I agree with his post there. If the woods are the same, I think a bolt-on tends to be more bright & "snappy", neckthrough seems to have more of a mid-range response, and a set-neck will usually have more pronounced lower end and less pronounced upper-mids & high end than the other two types of construction.

[DonP]

Zerb is a respected member on this forum, but I don't agree. I think he is not taking into account the types of wood used in said construction techniques. In general, most set necks are made with mahogany, and most bolt ons have maple necks and something other than mahogany bodies. Show me one bolt-on mahogany neck

He says a set neck is muddy, no doubt this comes from Gibson influences. But if you note, Gibson uses lots of mahogany in its SG/LP set neck models. Also, a short scale makes things muddier. They also use a fixed bridge that doesn't loose mids and lows as much as trems.

He says a bolt on is more snappier, and I think this come from the Fender influence. Single coils, trem, and maple neck with "something other than mahogany" body, 25.5" scale length. I don't care what anyone says, a floating trem vibrates as the string vibrates. And as it does, it takes power away from lower frequencies to vibrate the trem. This is because the lower frequencies have more power to be absorbed by the trem. This makes the remaining highs seem brighter.

If you want to compare apples to apples, compare an set neck SG to a bolt on SG, everything else the same. Would you really hear a difference? Or a regular strat to a strat with a set neck to a neck thru strat, all with the same woods and bridges and scale lengths.

At the end of all this research, I think you will find there are slight tonal differences in the types of construction, but IMO, pickups, amps and speakers drown out these differences for what we play. If you play stuff like old Clapton Bluesbreakers stuff, or anything with very light tube distortion, the instrument will have a bigger impact on the tone.

After spewing all that out, I still can't figure out why my Gibson Les Paul Historic R0 is my favorite axe for tone, but it is. It just has something magical about it. I would think my RRs would top it. My set neck 750XL comes very close, but of course since they are almost identical in construction. Maybe it's the pickups? Who knows.

If you go look up things on the LesPaulForum, you'll find (besides many arguments) the main difference between Historics and regular Standards is the neck join. Historics have the long neck tenon and standards have the crappier short "rocker" neck tenon joint. I keep wanting to believe it's all BS but out of my 4 LPs, the Historic just beats the rest. And the others are no slouches. The one thing I haven't done is put in the same pickups in all (Historics have BBs with Alnico 2 magnets; Standards have BB Pros with Alnico 5 magnets. Windings are the same).

So go figure. Tone is a mixture of many things. And one person's tone garbage could be another person's tone treasure.

[toejam]

Show me one bolt-on mahogany neck

Okay. The Jackson JJP. I used to own a black one. The neck was also painted.

http://audiozone.dk/CatalogScans/Jack1997/pages/Jack1997Page02.htm

The Jackson COW also has a bolt-on painted mahogany neck.

http://www.jacksonguitars.com/produc...tno=2900503599

[DonP]

Fine then

[toejam]

Fine. That's fine. Screw you, I'm going home. :ROTF:

[zeegler]

Set neck guitars are not inherantly muddy. You may find a set neck guitar that due to the woods used, pickups, old strings, whatever, happens to sound "muddy". However, saying that set-neck guitars are muddy is a ridiculous generalization.

[mjl927]

+1 DonP.

The only way to settle the argument would be to build three guitars with the same wood from the same tree....one bolt on, one set neck and one neck through. Then you would need to use the same pickups, the same controls, etc. It would be the closest you could come to a definitive test. I guess you could try to repeat the test with different types of wood, etc. It might be an interesting study but I doubt it would prove anything of great consequence.

[Spivonious]

I have only ever owned bolt-ons. One Yamaha that sustained for days. Why did it sustain? It had a string-thru bridge.

I do like the neck-throughs I've played but only because the heel is a more comfortable shape for accessing the upper frets. Sound is determined by #1 amp, #2 pickups, and #3 wood. Neck construction would be like #15.

[zeegler]

I respect Zerbs opinions, but I disagree with a lot of what he said in that link. First off, with a neck-thru guitar, the glue joint between the centre section is going to have little, if any effect whatsoever on the tone of the guitar. The strings, pickups, bridge, and tuners are all mounted to the same piece of wood. The wings of the body pretty much just add mass. Also, with a set-neck, if the joint is nice and tight, there isn't a significant amount of glue in the joint anyway. Yeah we've all seen those scary pictures of Gibson LP neck joints, but those are a worst case scenario. I also believe that the reason a bolt-neck guitar is brighter, is attributed more to a lack of low mids and bass response rather than a superior high end response. That's my opinion, and I have no proof whatsoever, so don't argue with me.
Finally, since most set neck guitars seem to be either all-mahogany, or mahogany with maple neck, perhaps that is why they are perceived as "muddy" by some. I have an Aria Pro V that is set neck, but is a 3 piece maple neck, and very possibly a maple body. Is it muddy? HELL NO! It's actually very bright. I do agree that neck-thru guitars seem to be generally brighter, but again, it probably has more to do with the materials than anything. Every neck thru guitar I have ever owned, has had a maple centre section. Maple is bright sounding.

Mjl927 is on the right track. The only way to have a definitive answer, is to build 3 guitars with different neck joints, but everything else the same.

[kelly user]

Mjl927 is on the right track. The only way to have a definitive answer, is to build 3 guitars with different neck joints, but everything else the same.

doubt it will work, seeing as every cut of wood is different sounding.