Official Luthiers Forum!

Ok - I will apologize right here and now for being totally new to this. I am a craftsman of sorts, not new to working with wood. Love my guitars and have always dreamed of building one and of course being the overly optimistic type really like the idea of building a neck-through construction solid-body. I just seems to support the design I have in mind best. It also for some reason seems like that approach would be 'easier' to me. (at least compared to making a perfect, tight neck and neck slot or glued setin neck)

Some explain to me why I keep reading this would actually be more difficult to due than more traditional methods of neck joinery.

Appreciate in advance the patience you extend the extreme newbie....

BTW - I have some wonderful 'virgin timber' wood that is begging to become my private signature instrument that I just have to use.

Thanks much!

Hi Stan, and welcome to the OLF!!! You've come to the right place. You'll find a lot of great helpful people on this forum. Newbies, and seasoned pro's alike.... Now on to your question.

   I believe the neck-through is harder to accomplish for a few reasons. First, you have to laminate that neck block between the wings. If you don't have the proper tools (a planer comes to mind here) this can be easier said than done. Secondly, you will have a harder time setting the angle of the neck/finger board in relation to the bridge (note here that I'm not a hard body expert but it seems to me there is always a bit of an angle there). On a bolt-on, you just need to adjust the angle of the heel to accomplish this.

   However, don't let this disuade you. It's believed that neck-throughs have better tone and sustain... Go for it! I'm sure the more knowledgeable members on the forum will chime in as well. Good luck and let us know how it turns out! Cheers.

Alain

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I'd like to be able to prove, just for once, that money wouldn't make me happy...

Hey there! Welcome. I'm sure you'll find this forum to be a really helpful place. I'm just a newbie myself, but I did apprentice with an electric builder for a while, so I'll offer my thoughts. I don't know that building a neck-thru would be any easier or harder than a bolt-on or glued-on, but a few things to consider are:

-You still have to figure out your neck angle and put that into your big ol' slab of wood running down the middle.

-You have several pieces to true up and create seamless joints.

-You have to then glue them all together without skating around.

-You have to make all those pieces flush after gluing up.

On the other hand, it's pretty gosh dang sturdy, it can look cool, and you don't have to fiddle with a neck joint. Just my two cents. I'm sure someone else here knows way more than I do. Good luck though!

Mike

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

jinx

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Mike

"The Dude abides. I don't know about you but I take comfort in that. It's good knowin' he's out there. The Dude. Takin' 'er easy for all us sinners. Shoosh." The Stranger

Honestly, in terms of neck joints and setting neck angles, neck throughs are really pretty darn simple. Draw out a full-sized plan from the front and side (you'll need: fingerboard protrusion above top, bridge height, fret height to sort out the neck angle). Mark out on wood. Make neck-through portion. Glue on wings at an angle. Plane off excess on front and back. Done. Pins (brads, toothpicks) will make glueup/alignment simple, and truing stuff up post-glueup really isn't that difficult with a nice, sharp plane.

Bolt ons with no neck angle at all are perhaps a touch easier, but matching 3-D pockets and necks (bolt-on and set neck guitars) is fiddlier work than 'simply' truing up straight gluing faces. Heck, if you don't have a planer/jointer, it's easy enough to set up a router jig that'll do it, or have it done by a cabinetmaker with the right tools, for example.

Getting the laminations right, and tapering them if you want that effect, is the difficult part in neck-through instruments. The only joints in a neck through are flat-on-flat, and honestly, if that's too much of a challenge, you probably need to practice s'more before attempting to build a guitar.

Hi Stan, Welcome to the OLF!!

Hi Mattia, do you know if there is a tutorial on this matter please?

Serge

[QUOTE=Serge Poirier] Hi Stan, Welcome to the OLF!!

Hi Mattia, do you know if there is a tutorial on this matter please?

Serge[/QUOTE]

On which part, exactly? ;)

Projectguitar.com has some excellent links, and the forum has tons of photo tutorials on neck angles, building logs for electric gutiars, and the MIMF.com library has a bunch of info as well. I've got a few series of building photographs for a set neck and a pair of bolt-on neck guitars that, at some point, I'll turn into a cogent, coherent tutorial and dump on my website.

Let me recommend that you buy and have in hand the bridge that you plan on using. That way, when you draw out your full-size plans per Mattia's excellend suggestion, you'll be able to measure the bridge and know exactly how high it should be in the plan. You *might* be able to get away with no angle if you use a strat-style bridge/tremelo, but even then a slight angle might be called for.

But, if you have the bridge, can measure the height, and draw out the plan, you'll know for sure.

Once you've got the angle figured out, I personally think that a neck-through is a pretty easy construction method.

Neck throughs Mattia!

Wow! This is a great site! Thanks to all for the opinions and great advice. Definitely some things here I had not considered or thought about.
Would it be safe to say that a tune-o-matic or wrap-around bridge for a first attempt would be the easiest to work with for dealing with bridge height adjustments in case I am a tad 'off' in planning or workmanship?

Thank again for the feedback!

I would say yes, a TOM bridge is the way to go in terms of having mucho adjustability. You can mount it with extra-long threaded rods, adjust the action, and then cut the rods off to a normal length if you're really nervous. That said, my mistake was in the opposite direction, and I have the bridge laying just about flat against the body.

Plus, I just like the way a TOM and stop piece look!

Jay

[QUOTE=Serge Poirier] Hi Stan, Welcome to the OLF!!

Hi Mattia, do you know if there is a tutorial on this matter please?

Serge[/QUOTE]

Another approach is to grab a copy of Melvyn Hiscock's Book - "How to Build Your Own Electric Guitar" He builds a neck through in the book. It (mostly) has step by step instructions.

It is a great book.

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Brock Poling
Columbus, Ohio
http://www.polingguitars.com

[QUOTE=Brock Poling] [QUOTE=Serge Poirier] Hi Stan, Welcome to the OLF!!

Hi Mattia, do you know if there is a tutorial on this matter please?

Serge[/QUOTE]

Another approach is to grab a copy of Melvyn Hiscock's Book - "How to Build Your Own Electric Guitar" He builds a neck through in the book. It (mostly) has step by step instructions.

It is a great book.

[/QUOTE]

+1

And Melvyn's a great guy, too! Highly reccomended. Beyond that, well, as said, Projectguitar.com's forums, the tutorials section, has at least one blow by blow neck through construction thread pinned, IIRC.

[QUOTE=guitarstosh]
Would it be safe to say that a tune-o-matic or wrap-around bridge for a first attempt would be the easiest to work with for dealing with bridge height adjustments in case I am a tad 'off' in planning or workmanship?
[/QUOTE]
Well, maybe. A TOM bridge assures that you'll have to put an angle on your neck--not so easy on a neck-through. With a Fender-style bridge, you'll have all the adjustment parameters you'll need (up/down, forward/backward), and you you won't have to angle the neck. The fingerboard height above the top raises the strings enough to work with the low-profile bridge. It may not, however, leave enough room between your strings and pickups, depending on your preferences. Draw it all out on paper, first! CarltonM38827.6604282407

Thanks Brock and Mattia!