NECK-THROUGH VS BOLT-ON

The issue has less to do with the style of construction than it does the quality of it.

I actually have zero experience with a neck through.
but as for having a warmoth bolt on...  Best sustain in a guitar I've ever had

My LP that I just finished building is the only guitar that I have where I can feel the vibrations in my fretting hand at nearly the same intensity I hear the sound coming from my amps.  And i play pretty loud.

Do a search, this question has come up many times, and you'll find all sorts of good opinions on the subject.

EDIT: as in a search on this forum, not google or anything.
 
I used to have a neck through Soloist...I couldn't tell if there was any difference in the sustain...all I know is I'd rather have a bolt-on as if there was a problem with the neck, at least with the bolt-on you can fit a new one.
 
stratoholic77 said:
I used to have a neck through Soloist...I couldn't tell if there was any difference in the sustain...all I know is I'd rather have a bolt-on as if there was a problem with the neck, at least with the bolt-on you can fit a new one.

Or if you have issue with neck angle with bolt on it's only a matter of shimming (or sanding the neck heel) to fit, but with neck through you're out of luck should neck angle change for any reason. More and more acoustic builders these days are using bolt on necks because acoustic guitars needs a neck reset every 10 or so years...
 
I would put my Warmoths up against my neck through ESP's any day (that's why I got rid of them after I got into Warmoth stuff)  I think pickups have much more to do with tone and sustain than whether the neck is a bolt on or a neck through.  I have short fingers and I didn't notice enough of a loss to get me to keep my mirage or eclipse after I built my first Warmoth.
 
Currently I am playing a homebuilt guitar that I built with a Carvin neck through neck.  I built this guitar when I was a senior in high school, about 14 years ago.  I decided then to stain it blue, and well it turned out pretty shitty.  So back around Thanksgiving when I ordered my Warmoth body, I decided to practice a little luthiery on my old neck through.  I sanded it down and refinished it in the natural lightly flamed maple that it is.  I changed the shape around a little bit (I originally traced a Yamaha Weddington, but I really didn't like the shape the more I played the guitar over the years) and did a rewire.  The pickups I have in it are a set of old Dimarzio Brian May pickups wired in series with the phase switches.  It sounds sort of like the red special, but I don't play with a treble booster or an AC30, it is close enough for me, I can get it to sing a little like the Red Special.

That being said, the guitar does sustain really well.  That is it's only redeeming characteristic.  It'll vibrate till you let the string go.  I hope I get half the sustain out of my Warmoth, seriously it still amazes me how well the guitar sustains!!!  What I hate about it is the neck is ultra thin, I get cramps playing any chords that require my pinky and also bar chords are tough for me on this neck.  I think it is a little thinner than a wizard.  Way thinner than my Am. Std. Strat.  When I first built this guitar, it was always my backup, now it is my main till my warmoth is done (thank goodness I am at less than a week till completion)  so I have learned to live with the cramps.

Personally out of the playing I have done with this guitar (I used to gig with this guitar also when it was blue) I would call it my least favorite neck.  It kind of feels like a fretted yardstick, way too thin for me.  But the sustain does outweigh the lousy neck profile.  I don't know, I am really thinking about dumping the guitar when my Warmoth is done, but I know that "custom" guitars don't sell well, and I would never even break even if I tried to sell it, and out of the guitars I have built, it was by far the cheapest as far as components.  From what I remember I think I have about $350 in it total.  I know if I put it on the 'bay I would never see that, it isn't a strat or a tele or a LP, it is a custom shape, and the final sale prices of guitars like that are laughable at best.  The guitar is built pretty well too with some walnut inlay and other little details, but I doubt it I would get $150 for it if I tried to sell it.  I never built it to sell it, I needed a senior project in shop class, so that was what I built, way cooler than an entertainment center.

Personally I don't think the hype on the neck through stuff is worth it.  If you are in my shoes and don't like the neck, you are kind of screwed.  With a bolt on, if you don't like a neck for whatever reason it is a simple matter of 4 screws and you are playing with a different neck.
 
I have a neck through , set necks and bolt ons .  The neck through sustains the most , the set neck and bolt ons are similar.

The advantage the neck through has at least in theory is that all of the resonant mass the string touches is on one piece of wood with a grain pattern generally complimentery to the string direction. 

A well built  instrument with a set or bolt on neck still resonates with the body quite well , look at Stradavarius if you doubt it.
 
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