# Neck through vs set neck. The difference?



## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

Naturally I understand the difference in construction, but I was wondering what builders think in terms of the impact to tone, playability et cetera.

I've had both but never did any real analysis.


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## Diablo (Dec 20, 2007)

Ed Roman was quite vocal about his preference for neck thru construction, and his disdain for set neck (his favourite and least favourite, respectively). Check out his technical articles on his site.

im not a builder, but I personally think neck thrus are a superior type of construction and can't think of a single disadvantage, except maybe cost to produce, and esthetics, if you don't like the skunk stripe going across the centre of the body.
easily the most playable, but I can't comment on tone as im a metal guy, so almost all my tone comes from the amp/effects. I personally think unless you play clean all the time, guitar tone is mostly derived from electronics I.e. pickups, effects and amp, and guitar tone is overstated, except when comparing solid body to hollow body etc major differences. That's another topic tho


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## Milkman (Feb 2, 2006)

And yet set necks are among the most prized guitars around.

I play clean a fair bit but even with lots of gain I still hear big tonal differences between my various guitars. 

I don't see any real advantage either way between a set neck and a neck through right off hand.

my set necks and bolt ons play as well as any neck through I've had.

A bolt on, on the other hand does have the distinct advantage of being much easier to replace.

I guess what I'm wondering is, is there a tonal difference (assuming that a good bit of the tone does come from the guitar)?

Maybe something about the joint itself providing some sort of tonal magic?


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## Lemon Song (Jan 18, 2013)

Whether from a production standpoint or tone perspective, a neck through could offer advantages to either camp. For instance you are making a head to toe tone loop via direct connection inherently. They are fast and straight to build. For someone who is less adherent to tradition and more imbued with laminated designs, think of your neck through with wings and a maple top as one of the most stable types. The cap does more than beautify the top, it ties the sides to the neck. Neck through is underated (under-evaluated) because those at the helm of the craft see Carvin doing it on a CNC machine in five minutes. Much of the tone quality is related to the stability of the guitar. Every body wants one to sound good, however you need to be able to play it.


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## dradlin (Feb 27, 2010)

http://liutaiomottola.com/myth/neckJointSustain.htm

"Conventional wisdom has it that the construction of neck joint of the instrument influences the sustain of the instrument. Neck through construction (for electric guitars and basses) is considered to offer the best sustain, followed by set neck (i.e. glued on) construction. Bolt-on necks are considered to offer the worst sustain. A recent experiment in this area suggests that this order may be backwards and that folks can't hear the difference in sustain based on neck joint type anyway."

Decide for yourself.


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## bolero (Oct 11, 2006)

I honestly don't think it matters

what matters is how you play the thing

I suspect bolt-ons would get the most sustain because you can put more torque & contact pressure on the joint, than either glue or a neck thru


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

With electric guitars it really doesn't matter. The "electric" part of the guitar does so much more than the wood to begin with the wood doesn't figure in very much in the whole sound. Then you take the neck type and divide that again and what are you left with; a discussion and that's about it.


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

The other issue with neck through that a lot of people seem to miss is that depending on the thickness of the body, neck angle etc, once you cut the neck pick-up mortise you may be substantially "disconnecting" the neck, effectively making it a short tendon.

Anyway, we may never know the truth as it's hard to play same guitar in both versions...


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## sambonee (Dec 20, 2007)

My neck thru was made I Japan 1971 or so. It's a degas that I've featured here just after acquiring it. 

I believe that the feel in your hands and the resonance is noticeably superior. Combined with my world class motor city pickups I think that I've got one of the best sustaining guitars I've ever heard. No joke. 

Funally neck access has no comparison. 

When you think of it, why would all the top bass builders prefer neck through 95% of the time? Think I the Lado and Alembic and the like ?


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

The only reason I would choose a neck through is the contrast you can get with the different colour of woods between the neck wood and the guitar body. If chosen correctly, it can give the guitar a nice custom look.


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

*A few points to consider;*

*As nobody has offered any empirical evidence we cannot know anything for sure about bolt vs set vs through neck guitars, you’d have to play the same guitar in each version to know anything for sure.*

*Generally, when speaking about* *solid body electrics, sustain and resonance are diametrically opposed, a guitar sustains well because the body doesn’t resonate, or it doesn’t sustain well because the body does resonate.*

*Upper fret access and is all over the road depending on the builder, you can have better upper fret access on a set or bolt neck, it’s a function of the design, not the type of construction.*

*From a manufacturing point of view – a through neck without any neck angle, where they typically “add wings” to the neck blank, is the easiest way to produce a set neck guitar, it involves no joinery or alignment issues and solves many problems when designing the intersection between neck and body, but without it being covered by a top and back some people think it’s ugly to look at. *


*One issue for a manufacturer of LP type guitars, and perhaps why they don’t generally do neck through, is that a stable 1 piece neck is a harder blank to source and generates more waste, hence builders of neck through guitars generally gluing up necks with multiple laminations.*


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

Sorry, double post


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## J S Moore (Feb 18, 2006)

Sustain is also a function of scale length. The longer the scale the tighter the string and the more sustain you get. If you want to talk construction there was a luthier in BC who used to make his guitars out of a single piece of Honduran mahogany, end to end and side to side. The only glue joint was the fretboard. Bill Lewis I believe his name was.

As for Ed Roman, that man liked guitars and construction techniques based on who he was pissed off with at the time. The last thing I read from him was how great his bolt on neck design was.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Jimmy_D said:


> *A few points to consider;*
> 
> *Upper fret access and is all over the road depending on the builder, you can have better upper fret access on a set or bolt neck, it’s a function of the design, not the type of construction.*


I don't understand why you can't have upper fret access on a through neck guitar as well. It really comes down to how the guitar is made. I saw a through neck guitar last week with the cut-out and it looked fine.


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## Jimmy_D (Jul 4, 2009)

You can, the upper fret access is dependent upon the individual design of the guitar, not the neck type being bolt or set or through.


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## Latiator (Jul 18, 2007)

Although I can't provide any more evidence than what has been presented, I can say that comparing an American Fender Strat, a Gibson Firebird Studio (set neck, not neck-through), and Carvin DC400 neck-through, all of which I currently own and enjoy, the findings are as follows: The sustain of the Firebird and DC400 are both superior to the Fender. The Firebird is all mahogany and quite thicker and heavier than the other two. The DC400 features a maple body (wings) glued to the centre/neck which is made of maple/walnut/maple/walnut/maple (five pieces glued together) with a flame maple flat top. I can not discern the difference between these two in terms of sustain so take from that what you will. One can argue that the thickness and weight of mahogany that comprise the Firebird compared to the DC400 which is thinner and lighter is a testament to the construction of the Carvin. Fret access is most attainable with the DC400 as well.
I _would_ like to point out however, that I have yet to play a guitar that transfers vibrations from the neck to the body and back again when strummed like I have experienced with the DC400. To me, being an acoustic fanatic, this vibrative transfer is most inspiring.


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## Alexander James (Jan 24, 2013)

Hello.

My name is Alexander James. I own Alexander James Guitars.

I have built neck through instruments for as long as I have been building. I have also done bolt-on and set neck construction.
I find that neck through construction allows for a greater fret access (depending on who is doing the shaping). You have more material to work with and run less risk of making the neck joint too weak.
All my guitars have incredible fret access.

When it comes down to tone, I find neck through not superior, but different. Set neck, bolt-on, and neck throughs all have different tones in my opinion. It is not about which one sounds better but is more about the construction for me. My customers have been very surprised with the fret access of my instruments. I would never shape my set neck instruments the way I do my neck throughs though.


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## aftermidnight (Oct 11, 2009)

Alexander James said:


> ...... When it comes down to tone, I find neck through not superior, but different. Set neck, bolt-on, and neck throughs all have different tones in my opinion ....


Hello AJ ..... What is you view regarding material type and/or density in this equation? ...... (as someone else suggested).

Thanks for posting.


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## Alexander James (Jan 24, 2013)

aftermidnight said:


> Hello AJ ..... What is you view regarding material type and/or density in this equation? ...... (as someone else suggested).
> 
> Thanks for posting.



I would say the material makes a big difference. I am one of the only builders (that I know) using exotic woods in the amount that I do.
I have made necks of Macassar Ebony, Ziricote, Mahogany, Padauk, Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Albizzia (amazing wood!), the list is endless.

Every neck (though the same scale length) changed the overall guitar tone and feel a surprising amount. 

If you can handle the weight, an Ebony neck through is very impressive to play and hear. Unlike anything I have ever heard before.

Alexander James Guitars - Custom guitar luthier specializing in exotic woods.


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## Steadfastly (Nov 14, 2008)

Alexander James said:


> I would say the material makes a big difference. I am one of the only builders (that I know) using exotic woods in the amount that I do.
> I have made necks of Macassar Ebony, Ziricote, Mahogany, Padauk, Purpleheart, Yellowheart, Albizzia (amazing wood!), the list is endless.
> 
> Every neck (though the same scale length) changed the overall guitar tone and feel a surprising amount.
> ...


How much weight are we talking about relative to maple or mahogany?


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## aftermidnight (Oct 11, 2009)

Alexander James said:


> ...... If you can handle the weight, an Ebony neck through is very impressive to play and hear .....


The reason I ask is, pedal and lap steel guitars are basically a long neck with tuning keys mounted at one end and a pickup mounted at the other ..... (similar to a neck-through?)

For the longest time the pedal steel builders used hard maple for their necks (and I was led to believe) primarily for its superior bright tone and sustain qualities. 

Some builders tried particle board and ended up with muddy sounding guitars.

Now, machined aluminum appears to be very popular.

So with these instruments (at least), neck material type and/or density seems to affect tone and/or sustain considerably.


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## Alexander James (Jan 24, 2013)

I would say it is very comparable to Rock Maple. Maybe a little bit more weight. Honestly, it is not that bad.


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