No stupid questions, only stupid people...

[Firebird211]

A friend of mine, who is too smart to be told otherwise, plays a 7 string Conklin bass.  It has a bolt-on neck he glued in.  He swears it changed the tone for the best and gives him the best of both worlds.  I think it ruined it.  He now has a bolt-on neck he can't unbolt and a set neck with bolts in it.

I admit that I did that myself on a Yamaha guitar.  I just added a little wood glue at the pocket, then bolted it back on.  That did improve sustain a little, but not that much, you can get that with a good smooth wood to wood contact.  Luckily, that was easy enough to remove by wedging a knife down each side of the pocket, then the back.  From my experience I would say it is not worth it. 

 

[line6man]

Maybe the sarcasm didn't show in my post?

I've found the best way to do sarcasm on a forum is no caps no punctuation. At least that seems to be the rule on other forums I frequent.

im glad somebody asked this question i dont think it has ever been discussed before on this forum

I will not post something with poor grammar.
Capitalization and punctuation must always be used.

I should have used the emoticons then.

 

[line6man]

Oddly/funny enough, there was a Warmoth build on eBay just recently that had its bolt-on neck glued in. Go figure.

Yes, and this dude left the bolts out, too!
ROTFL!

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

I will not post something with poor grammar.
Capitalization and punctuation must always be used.

I should have used the emoticons then.

Grammar can still be sound without using capitalization and punctuation.  One can even have perfect punctuation, spelling, and capitalization and be using bad grammar.

 

[Jusatele]

I is s'stil triin to figure dis out?

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

We don't need no education. 

Capitalization and punctuation are perfect.  Grammar isn't.

 

[Firebird211]

:laughing11:
We don't need no thoughts controlled.

 

[Mor Paul]

Are we really learning about using sarcasm, in the classroom?

Come on, teachers, leave that kid alone.  :laughing7:

 

[Twelvebar]

When I was a young lad a friend and I glued the neck of his cheap Strat copy in place. he thought it would sound way better.
it sounded the same, but can't be adjusted, or removed, but really who cares, we placed it straight, and he'll never swap it out.

Anyway long story short, 23 years later and it is still fine.

 

[line6man]

Are we really learning about using sarcasm, in the classroom?

Come on, teachers, leave that kid alone.  :laughing7:

I don't get it?
Were you being sarcastic?

 

[Cagey]

Been living under a rock? <grin> It's the next two lines from "Another Brick in the Wall"

We don't need no education
We don't need no thought control
No dark sarcasm in the classroom
Hey! Teachers, leave those kids alone!

 

[Strat Avenger]

Some of Ed Roman's rants and opinions make a lot of sense, while others are a bit ridiculous. Some of what he says is based upon pure logic, while other things he says are based upon nothing more than emotion.

'Like him or not, the guy has a ton of experience in the guitar business.

I agree with him regarding the MYTH that set-neck guitars produce more "sustain" than bolt-ons. A properly screwed or bolted neck will sustain better than glued-in, while a neck-thru is the ultimate. Glue actually acts as an insulator between two pieces of joined wood.

 

[Jusatele]

guess we need to go out and start buying Carvin Guitars then. :sign13: :tard: :help:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

What I remember about Ed Roman's rant about bolt-on vs. set neck is that he prefers the bolt-on.  It wasn't because bolt-ons were better than setnecks, but rather bolt-ons are better than setnecks being made today.  The setnecks being churned out are sloppy because the joint is poor to begin with and being compensated by glue.  The older, better ones had less glue because there was more wood to wood contact.  It's all moot to me anyways because most set necks are 24 3/4" and most bolt-ons are 25.5" scales.  If going solely on the sustain angle, wouldn't the longer scale mean better sustain?  And isn't sustain overated anyway.  It either has it or it doesn't.  That seems to be the Holy Grale, "I want more sustain."  Whoever says they have plenty?

 

[Jusatele]

I remember we used to seek sustain, I think the longer you play the more you find it, in other words it is like looking at the guy who gets a great vibrato, notice his fretting hand is vibrating, he may not even know he is doing such, and probably 50 percent of sustain is the same way, technique you absorb. So much of this is working the wood with the fingers.
I do not deny that a lot of stuff is due to wood, joints, pickups. amps. etc, but some one who has made a conscious effort to play play play gets a ton better sustain than a guy who is looking for a short cut.
the true secret to sustain is to keep the string vibrating.

 

[Cagey]

What I remember about Ed Roman's rant about bolt-on vs. set neck is that he prefers the bolt-on.  It wasn't because bolt-ons were better than setnecks, but rather bolt-ons are better than setnecks being made today.  The setnecks being churned out are sloppy because the joint is poor to begin with and being compensated by glue.  The older, better ones had less glue because there was more wood to wood contact.  It's all moot to me anyways because most set necks are 24 3/4" and most bolt-ons are 25.5" scales.  If going solely on the sustain angle, wouldn't the longer scale mean better sustain?  And isn't sustain overated anyway.  It either has it or it doesn't.  That seems to be the Holy Grale, "I want more sustain."  Whoever says they have plenty?

I think that's the question - does it have the desired sustain/tone or not, and either way, why? The neck joint is only one consideration out of probably 30 or more that have any effect on it. So, different folks pick their favorite whipping post(s) and wail away at it(them).  

 

[Alfang]

Cagey I agree, the neck joint is just one factor that influences sustain, I think it's a small factor, if it's rigidly bolted, it may as well be one piece.

Many Claims out there about what helps sustain or tone ( the two are inversly proportional) are not backed up by any real science or data. Just ideas.