I bought an American Breedlove a few years ago. It's a small mahogany concert. It is one of the best sounding and playing acoustics I've ever played. Absolutely love that little guitar. Id had it about a year when I learned they use bolt on necks. It has sold me on design. I wouldn't hesitate to buy another acoustic with a bolt on neck and it's really the smartest buy.

My neck bolt fell out yesterday and I only bought guitar from local shop in August! So had it for 9 months.

as a newer builder, (6 so far) bolt on and glued extensions. next up will be full bolt on. i'm thinking that if the old masters had the available hardware that we do they would have used it.

@DrewsGuitarShop

8 ай бұрын

Oh I 100% agree. In fact you DO see very old guitars with bolt on necks. Do some googling, you might be surprised how far that goes back.

Good info!

Have you seen some of the twoodfrd videos where he does neck resets using electric foam cutting wires to heat the neck joint dry? It seems to work pretty well for him. Not a luthier myself, just a guitar nerd that's really interested in working on my own guitars.

@DrewsGuitarShop

2 жыл бұрын

I might give it a try if I get something I am comfortable experimenting on. I tend to be conservative in terms of trying out new things over tried and tested methods I have experience with.

Seagull neck joints used to be bolt-on, but they stopped doing that in (or after) 2005, when they went to an epoxied-in mortise/tenon that isn't designed to easily come apart after manufacture. If anyone wants to see how Godin's (makes Seagulls) been doing since then, check out the following vid at about the 20:40 mark - kzread.info/dash/bejne/mIx7uJVqmLK_mNY.html As for Taylor, pre-2000 = "Pre NT neck joint" that could be adjusted as shown in this video (loosen the heel, remove some wood, and bend the neck back a bit, without loosening the glued fretboard extension), while post-2000's NT neck joint = 2-shim adjustment after unbolting. Also, if you want to avoid steaming off glued-in necks, consider the hot soldering iron technique - Stewmac offers a tool (best to use 2 at a time?) - www.stewmac.com/luthier-tools-and-supplies/tools-by-job/tools-for-necks-and-fingerboards/stewmac-heatstick-for-neck-removal/ Heats the joint w/o steam, no wood damage, soaking, luthier burns, etc. Haven't tried it myself, but would consider it as an option to steaming.

Walden Guitars, LAG, and others also use Bolt on Necks. It's still a problem to take it down if it's not as the Taylor's system. I've reset a few Taylor Guitars just with some tools at home and some blank mahogany pieces. But their system is great. I must admit they're also very fast needing a neck-reset. All Taylors I've reseted were like 2 - 4 years old and already needed a NR... The solution to all this problem would be something like what Riversong Guitars have invented... Check it out, pretty awesome

@cmcg5788

Жыл бұрын

I've had a couple of Taylors and found this to be true also--about every two years. It's like they under-engineer them because they can always unscrew it and pop in a shim. I now have a Martin with a traditional dove tail and I wouldn't go back. It may need a reset in 30 years or so, that's O.K. with me to have a neck that doesn't bend out of tune easily and need to be reset every 2-4 years. YMMV

Personally I don't like a bolt on neck ...would much rather set the neck angle on a dovetail... As long as they didn't put the guitar together with hide glue.. which many factories have finally quit using nowadays... Of course hide glue being inconsistent, it either falls apart or can be the equivalent of using epoxy where it takes an extreme amount of heat to break loose .. depending on how the batch was made , which animal hide was used , and a million other variables. The problem with bolt on necks is having to bolt them on to check how your progressing with the angle ... while a good fitting dovetail just snaps on and is self sustaining and quick to snap on . Plus the shims you have to have on hand. Or make ,requiring you to stop and go make them . I guess keeping a supply of Taylor premade factory shims is fine , If you do a lot of Taylors Like warranty work , but they are expensive. But with a dovetail ? some shimstock , glue, angled sanding block, a piece of chalk ,and a chisel, glue, and your good to go...all things most luthiers have on hand. And .. Dovetails are easier to cant , angle , center than a mortise tenon...once you know how it's done.. Of course it can leave marks.. and some luthiers and factories paint the whole guitar neck after its glued to the body . Making so you have to cut the finish at the heel and fretboard extension But good luthiers and factories plan ahead and don't do that. And I have made two pretty identical versions... there's a difference IMHO... Dont know what it is , Maybe the weight of those bolts I have to keep sticking my hands through the sound hole to bolt and unbolt killing the sound 🙂 , dunno ,but its something...and definitely noticable.. and was the last bolt-on I made ,except for an electric for a friend.. All Luthiers have different opinions I guess . But for the life of me I have yet to see the big advantage of most Bolt-on's Another thing is the support of the fingerboard extension. That bolted verses a glued on ...thats a major neck support area... glued on can't shift .bolts can.. I remember rattling sound in a Martin DM ... checked everything.. turned out to be the bolt. Lol Ok . My rant is over .. I'll let you go back to making trees sing