Neck / headstock construction info wanted, please

[jackson1]

I was wondering why there are different ways a neck / headstock is made? I know of these three constructions:

- 1-piece neck

- scarf joint, two piece neck + fretboard

- laminated neck, 3-piece + fretboard, sawn differently, glued together, no scarf joint

- more?

Please tell me about the pro's and con's about the constructions, for example why scarf joint? Cheaper to produce? Which is most stable? Has new production methods made one of these constructions preferred or possible? Is it a matter of history and evolution?

Just tell me what you know because i know absolutely nothing about this [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

/Henrik

[Newc]

Re: Neck / headstock construction info wanted, please

1-piece neck/heads usually can't survive the tension of the strings, and bend forward permanently over time.

2-piece necks (scarf joint, neck, fretboard) are more stable because the head is cut differently than the neck, thus it flexes in a different direction from the neck, which means it won't bow forward under string tension.

3-piece laminated necks (mahogany) are done that way because the wood being used is softer and would bend more easily even if it was quartersawn, so you cut 2 pieces flat and one piece quarter and laminate them together so they pull against the string tension more than the string tension pulls them.

At least that's wht I get out of it.

I've also seen dovetail headstock joints. I can't imagine that would be stronger than a scarf joint.

The scarf joint is also called a Spanish Luthier's joint, and since the best Classicals come from Spain, I'd go with that [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

Newc

[j2379]

Re: Neck / headstock construction info wanted, please

one piece necks are fine with 3 on 3 headstocks, ive had trouble with some 6 on a side. especially pointy or angled string pull headstocks. its actually pretty common for the old BCRich firebird type head to twist, almost every one ive had has had a slight turn. 3 peice necks IMO are the most stable. & 3 peice can all be quarter swn the just reverse the outter peices this helps because all wood has a natural warp this trys to counter that.

[jackson1]

Re: Neck / headstock construction info wanted, please

Scary info on the 1-piece, heh! Recently i bought a strat with a 1-piece scalloped maple neck, so it will be interesting to see how it reacts over time.

About 3-piece, i actually have one made of 3 pieces of maple, so the technique is apparently also used with hard wood (pun!).



I wonder if the scarf joint has small wooden rods and holes which joins when neck and head is put togethter and glued? (i don't know the correct term here).

/Henrik

[Newc]

Re: Neck / headstock construction info wanted, please

Dowels. I think they do.

Newc

[YetAnotherOne]

Re: Neck / headstock construction info wanted, please

Newc - I'm not so sure about that. Fender has sold an awful lot of 1-piece 6-per-side necks in the last half century. I think that the choice between one piece construction and a scarf joint has more to do with efficient materials use than stability of the neck. That's probably guitars with large headstock and/or relatively sharp headstock angles usually have a scarf joint while lots of guitars with smaller headstocks and/or a shallow H/S angle don't.

[Ace]

Re: Neck / headstock construction info wanted, please

The reason for the scarf joint is so that when you have an ANGLED headstock you have long grain in the headstock, unlike most Gibsons which have a short grain in the headstock and are more prone to snapping. Fenders don't have angled headstocks, so they don't need a scarf joint.

[Jester700]

Re: Neck / headstock construction info wanted, please

It also depends on the amount of wood there. If you have a fairly big clunky joint you can get away with a lesser wood and design, but a thin ergonomic one calls for a good piece of quartersawn maple and a good joint design.

[eddiewarlock]

Re: Neck / headstock construction info wanted, please

it's all about economics!!! there's much less waste of wood if you use a scarf joint! one piece necks/heastocks don't suffer from twisting or anything at all! just look at PRS, you might say that's because it's a 3+3 headstock, but the thousands of bc riches that are 6 in line? some might have twisted , granted, but that's not because it's made of one piece of wood, or PRS necks never twist? or Gibson necks never ever twist? all 3 methods are good, Gibson use scarf joints i think, so does jackson, laminated necks are cool too, not used by many manufacturers, i think Ibanez offeres them in their regular line, and it's economical too, because you can have flatsawn pieces of wood and by turning them by its side and glueing them together you can have a quartersawn laminated neck ,which is very stable, that's my 2 cents.....