Does Anyone Else Prefer Bolt-On Guitars

[shredmonster]

God I love starting threads like this.hehehehe!!!

I like bolt ons for these reasons....

1)The seem to have more "snap" to the notes - a more percussive quality

2)They WILL sustain as long as a neck through if they are made right

3) They seem more "sparkly" sounding on the highs

4)FEEL - really this is THE BIGGEST thing. I have long arms and fingers - not fat just long. When I play a neck through and get up to the upper frets it feels like I have to pull my arm back - like the angle of my fingers is wrong or something. My fingers feel all crunched up as does my arm.
Feel like everything is too small up there.

With a bolt on I actually like to have a neck heel for something to grab onto when I am up really high on the 20+ frets. It feels like I can spread out my fingers and they are not so cramped up.
Moser builds some neck throughs with neck heels like on his personal axes and I can understand why.

If you ever notice on a neck through the fingerboard is really low to the body. On a bolt on the fingerboard is higher off the body and for some reason this feels more comfortable to me.

The skinniness up at the higher frets of a neck through is just so uncomfortable for me no matter who makes the guitar.

So there.

[Frigo89]

I like Bolt Ons more aswell man, what do you do if a neck through guitar's neck gets busted (God Forbid, unless its on purpose)? with a bolt on, just contact Warmoth, Musikraft, Frankenstraat, Ebay, any of those places will certainly have what you need

also, what happens if the neck feels like ass but the body/tone is perfect?, on a bolt on, sell the neck, buy a new one!

[Cleveland Metal]

I will only own Bolt ons...

They seem more alive sounding to me.

[mm2002]

I'm with ya guys. I've sold every neck-thru I've ever owned because they are just uncomfortable to me. Other than the fact that I don't care for painted necks, I can't pinpoint exactly what's uncomfortable, but they are.

[Cleveland Metal]

Yeah, I hate paimted necks as well, my hands stick to it. I steel wool the finish off my bolt ons down to wood even.

I gotchya on the uncomfy statement. Same here.

[delt]

2)They WILL sustain as long as a neck through if they are made right

ie. if the screws are tight enough?

To me it doesn't matter that much how the neck is attached to the body, as long as it's playable from the nut to the 24th fret - which of course rules out "strat" style bolt-ons that feel like a bunch of 2x4 nailed together.

[Shawn Lutz]

I love bolt ons but have been playing my mockingbird a lot... now when I pick up a bolt on I can feel my hand hitting the neck joint where it meets the body and its annoying but nothing I can't deal with.

I can't say I prefer one over the other (i only have 1 neck thru) as I don't have a hard time with either. I do like bolt-ons just for the ability to try different necks on certain bodies...try that with a neck thru

[horns666]

YEAH..I do godammit!!!

[fuel0707]

Most of my electrics are bolt-on but I've got a PRS McCarty and a brand-new RR5 and I'm finding them to have their own appeal.

In the end, a good guitar is a good guitar regardless of how the neck's attached to the body.

[shreddermon]

Funny, I've been giving this stuff a lot of thought lately. For years, I thought I was a neck-through guy with my preferences. After all, I played (and had) nothing but my SD Soloist for many years.

Then, in the past few years, I've really gotten into my bolt-ons more. I think I've rediscovered my very early playing days. I pretty much learned guitar on my (earlier than my Soloist) bolt-on Kramers, etc.

I still really prefer having several guitars with a variety of specs - different woods, PUs, bridges, etc. It's the "spice of life" you know, and all cool. And that includes enjoying both NTs and BOs.

But I think I've finally come to the realization that my main preferences lean more towards bolt-ons. And, more specifically, 24 fret Dinky bodied bolt-ons. Not that I "have to have" nor often use those extra 2 frets. But that I prefer Dinkies and 24 fretr's because that layout makes access to the 22nd fret with my meaty fingers so much easier. I also think there's something tonally or sustain-wise that's different about non-scarf joint (strathead) necks that I prefer, too.

...But ask me again in a few years and maybe I'll give a different answer.

[Cygnus X1]

I love bolt ons but have been playing my mockingbird a lot... now when I pick up a bolt on I can feel my hand hitting the neck joint where it meets the body and its annoying but nothing I can't deal with.

Isn't the Mockingbird kind of thick at the neck/body union? If anything, that was one of my favorite aspects of it. The J/C's stay relatively flat at that point on the neck throughs.
As for me, it's what a person gets used to for years. The glued in neck of the Hamer Phanton felt a bit strange at first, but I have gotten so used to it, that the steep ledge of the BO seems to stop me on the low strings/upper register.
So I wind up going back "down" the neck instead of sticking with a general pentatonic "box" shape.It's helped my style a bit, though. But then I'll go back to the Hamer and go back to my "bad", but comfortable habit of boxing in a pattern in the upper register.

[thetroy]

In my limited experience neck-thru feels better, but bolt-on both sounds better and more importantly is CHEAPER! Therefore I play a bolt-on neck guitar.

[Genebaby]

I'm with shreddermon, I do prefer 24 fret Dinky style guitars, but 22 is ok as well. That's the only type of bolt-on I like, the Dinky/Strat. V's, Explorers, Stars etc I prefer neck-thru/set-neck, but I don't really play those much, I really like the bolt-on strats.

[AdRock]

I much rather have a guitar that I can replace the neck on if I want to. I've had and tried a few neck throughs but something just never felt right, also the fact that I seem to hate painted necks.

Out of all the guitars I've ever bought or played my bolt on '94 Dinky Reverse is by far the most comfortable guitar I've ever owned.

24 fret early to mid 90's Dinkys siut me big time. I have an '06 Dinky and it just doesn't feel anywhere near the same. The body feels bigger.

[jaydog]

I love bolt ons but have been playing my mockingbird a lot... now when I pick up a bolt on I can feel my hand hitting the neck joint where it meets the body and its annoying but nothing I can't deal with.

I can't say I prefer one over the other (i only have 1 neck thru) as I don't have a hard time with either. I do like bolt-ons just for the ability to try different necks on certain bodies...try that with a neck thru

hell yeah, another mockingbird man. which model do you have? i have the n.j. neck thru (trans red) with floyd pat tremolo. got it in 2002 and had a dimarzio super distortion placed in the bridge.