Why don't more acoustics come with bolt on necks?

Wolfetone · May 2016

Well, why don't they?

I now have an EKO 12 string and it's excellent now that the rough fretwork has been sorted and been given a full set up.

The guitar sustains beautifully and has bags of resonance. It also has a bolt on neck.

octatonic · May 2016

The problem with an acoustic is the fingerboard extension usually needs to be glued to the soundboard.

To do it a different way requires the sort of precision that isn't easily achieved.

But actually many companies use a built on neck.

Taylor guitars, for example, used a bolt on neck for years.

I think that has changed now or at least they have a different style of neck attachment to what they used to.

Wolfetone · May 2016

octatonic said:

The problem with an acoustic is the fingerboard extension usually needs to be glued to the soundboard.
To do it a different way requires the sort of precision that isn't easily achieved.

But actually many companies use a built on neck.
Taylor guitars, for example, used a bolt on neck for years.
I think that has changed now or at least they have a different style of neck attachment to what they used to.

Interesting. I have found that a few of my Takamines have come with ridiculously high actions and this could have been sorted with a shim if it had been possible.

octatonic · May 2016

Have a read of this:

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Data/Guitar/Taylor/99NeckJoint/99joint.html

Wolfetone · May 2016

Wolfetone · May 2016

octatonic said:

Have a read of this:

http://www.frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Data/Guitar/Taylor/99NeckJoint/99joint.html

Very good!

richardhomer · May 2016

Taylors are still bolted on. Their tops are routed to accept a fingerboard extension, which allows to very easy neck resets.

They call it the 'NT' (or 'New Technology') neck:

https://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/acoustic/features/nt-neck

octatonic · May 2016

Yup, the link I posted goes into the detail as well.

ICBM · May 2016

No reason at all, other than tradition.

Sassafras · May 2016

I had an Eko 12 and it was as solid as a rock. I can't remember ever having to tighten the neck bolts and for such a hugely overbuilt guitar it didn't sound too bad.

Obviously neck bolted acoustics can work.

ICBM · May 2016

If a Strat or a Tele can work fine with a bolt-on neck, so can an acoustic. There's no difference in the physics.

I love the old 60s Fenders with bolt-on necks too. In fact one of the things I find most disappointing is that later they felt the need to compromise and not only change to glued-in necks but stop using the proper Fender head shape too - although they've now reissued those, but with glued necks. To me a Fender is only a Fender with a bolt-on maple neck and a 6-a-side headstock… anything else is just a guitar with a Fender decal on.

One of my biggest gear regrets is not buying a lovely 60s Newporter when I was in Canada about 15 years ago. Even though I could have easily got it back by taking the neck off and putting the body in my suitcase, my wife wasn't keen on me buying it and for some reason I gave in

.

earwighoney · May 2016

There are a few other high profile makers which use bolt on necks, including Furch, Collings and Bourgeois use them. I've come across a fair number of 'boutique' builders who use them as well. Companies like Martin are pretty unlikely to use them as their tradition is pretty long running using dovetails.

Some acoustic guitar makers use solera based designs which makes dovetails neck resets even more problematic!

AliGorie · May 2016

Dana Bourgeois uses his own design BoN -

http://bourgeoisguitars.net/wp-content/themes/tf_child/images/our_story_img_09.jpg

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Why don't more acoustics come with bolt on necks?

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