Scarf?

[Jacksonguy666]

When they say like Scarf Neck joint or headstock or something (i forget) what does that mean?

[Dred]

A scarf jointed neck is one that has a headstock that is seperate to the neck itself.

A solid one/three/five/etc. piece neck runs in parallel pieces all the way across the length of the neck.

[Grandturk]

These are traditionally stronger than one piece necks because of the opposing direction of the grain at the weakest part of the neck, or so I have been told.

[dg]

Here's a post with some quick illustrations I did a while back:

On a tiltback headstock, a scarf joint is stronger than a 1-piece neck. There used to be a great picture, but I can't find it. Try to picture the grain of the wood in the area from the nut to the end of the headstock. On a 1 piece neck with tilt headstock, there is exposed end-grain all along that angle. A blow to the headstock can easily shear the wood, or actually peel it apart along the grain. A scarf joint eliminates the problem of the end-grain in that area.

edit- Here's a quick & crappy effort to draw it. I suck at paint. I drew the grain in red, but it came out looking weird when I saved it. Still kinda shows what I meant about the grain, though.

[Dred]

dg, that deseves a fucking award!

[busdriver]

Another reason is that it's more economical (saves material) than making an angled neck out of one piece of wood.

[Jacksonguy666]

Thanks! yeah i know my dk2 is scarf, not sure about the rest though

[Nazgul]

When did Jackson start using scarf neck joints? Right after they moved to Ontario factory? Or later in the 90s? (I'm talking USA Jacksons here)

[Grandturk]

Another reason is that it's more economical (saves material) than making an angled neck out of one piece of wood.

Well... it does save wood, but it costs more in terms of production time - you need to cut 2 pieces of wood, glue them, clamp them, and let the glue dry. That's in comparison to simply cutting 1 piece of wood.

I don't know what the production cost vs. material cost would work out to be.

[Carbuff]

Another reason is that it's more economical (saves material) than making an angled neck out of one piece of wood.

I always thought that this was the main reason. I thought it was cheaper to use 2 pieces of wood than one that was suitable to make the whole neck, pointy tilted headstock and all.

[dg]

When did Jackson start using scarf neck joints? Right after they moved to Ontario factory? Or later in the 90s? (I'm talking USA Jacksons here)

According to the Soloist evolution info Jim Shine has on his site, it seems like it was right after the move to Ontario:

http://zeus.lunarpages.com/~jimshi2/newJacksonsite/jackson_soloists.htm


That covers neckthroughs, but keep in mind that there were a number of San Dimas Jackson strats that had bolt-on pointy necks with scarf joints, just like the Charvel pointies had.