A Look At 3 Electric Guitar Neck Construction Types

Guitar Neck Construction

3 Main Neck Joint Types

Guitar neck construction refers to how the guitar body and necks are joined together.

So why is it important?

How joints are manufactured plays a part in the overall sound transmission between the neck and body, along with tone, playability, sustain, and resonance.

All have advantages and disadvantages, along with player preferences and beliefs.

With all of the different guitar builds, there are 3 main types of neck joints.

1. Bolt-on – Necks attached to the guitar body with screws and often a metal plate.
2. Set-neck – Necks that are glued to the guitar body.
3. Neck-Thru – Necks that run through the entirety of the guitar’s body as one piece.

If you’re in the market for a new guitar, you’ve probably heard the terms, but what do they mean?

History Of Bolt-on Neck Type

In 1949, Leo Fender began experimenting with new guitar designs, creating a prototype single coil pickup guitar called the Fender Esquire with an Ash body and Maple bolt-on neck.

Being the first solid-body guitar sold by Fender, it debuted in 1950. (See image)

Challenged Ridden

The instrument had a one-piece laminated bolt-on maple neck that, due to the string tension and environmental factors and changes, bowed, forcing the company to replace almost all of the 50 guitars manufactured under warranty, resulting in this model being discontinued.

Introduction Of The Truss Rod

To solve this issue and meet the specific needs of the musician, Fender came up with an addition of the Metal Truss Rod into the necks allowing for much-needed tuning stability, with this design being incorporated to the present day.

Telecaster Is Born

The Fender Telecaster was the sister model to the Esquire except with 2 pickups and was initially introduced as the “Broadcaster“ (1950), then “Nocaster” (1951) and with the advent of Television, the final name of “Telecaster” was applied to the guitar.

The ‘Tele” was the world’s first mass-produced, commercially successful solid-body electric guitar. Its effective design set standards and trends in electric guitar manufacturing and has remained in continuous production, mostly unchanged from the 1950s.

This design can be used in any genre of music because of the bright attack output, and have been the instrument of choice for iconic players like Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page.

Along with adding the addition of a Truss Rod, Fender also went with a Bolt-on Neck Construction.

What is a Bolt-on Neck?

This joint has the neck and body manufactured separately, then attached together, and is by far the most common neck construction design in electric guitars and easiest to identify.

First Glance

Bolt-on constructions are usually very obvious. Normally, when you flip the guitar over, you’ll see a metal plate at the top of the body called a neck plate. This is used to cover and hold the screws in place, with some new variations coming later. (See Image)

A bolt-on neck is anchored to the body wood with 4-5 screws, not bolts as the name suggests, on a series of ferrules allowing for easy cost-effective removal and replacement of the neck in the event of damage.

Cost Effective

This design is the easiest, quickest and most effective process of manufacturing a guitar for mass production, with the final assembly done quickly by production workers.

Fender has been doing this starting in the early ’50s to the present day, resulting in durable instrument designs that have incredible playability and are rich in tone.

Sound Type

Bright

Bolt-on necks, despite having a tightly fitted assembly at the junction point, usually do not provide as much resonance; the slight gap between the neck and body slows the sustain, creating a small barrier compared to other designs.

The results are a bright sharp twangy cutting tone with note definition.

The Bolt-On Neck And Heel Designs

Some bolt-on designs use a metal neck plate at a flat angle, while other similar designs contour the heel to make it more comfortable to play in the upper regions of the fretboard. (More on this later)

A heel is located where the neck and the body meet. (See Image)

With the ease of access to the higher frets in other neck construction designs brought on by the SuperStrat, the bolt-on has had some design modifications made by contouring the traditional “heel” of the guitar. (See image)

Some manufacturers work with top players to create other varied bolt-on designs, like on the Nuno Bettencourt Washburn N4 and the Stephen’s Extended Cutaway.(See image)

Sound Type

Tonal transfer between the neck’s fretboard and body is generally better than in a traditional bolt-on because of the always precious contact between the body and the neck with the glued-on design.

The guitar maker uses certain tonewoods (like mahogany) to favour certain sounds.

This design gathers up all of the energy from your strings, with vibrations flowing and travelling freely, distributing out of the body of the guitar, producing a thicker, fuller, warmer sound, with a fatter body to the notes’ along with better resonance and sustain.

The iconic Les Paul is a common example of a set-neck sound type that can be used for anything from rock to metal. (See Image)

Advantages

• Improved Resonance & Sustain– With the overall combination of a stronger body-to-neck connection than a bolt-on design, along with advanced craftsmanship, many believe this also improves the resonance of the instrument. 
• Improved Upper Fretboard Access & Comfort – Even with a heel left behind by a traditional Set in design, it still provides better access than the traditional Bolt-on versions.
• Cosmetically More Appealing.- One of the best things about the set-neck construction is that, cosmetically, it has a cleaner look and aesthetic. 
• Warmer Fuller Sound – Vibrations distribute out of the body of the guitar, producing a thicker, fuller, warmer sound.
• Good Value For Money – Usually found on mid-range and high-range guitars, the price tag for this type of neck construction is affordable.

Disadvantages

• Harder to Repair & Replace  – With the set neck construction needing to have the glue loosened to be able to separate the body and neck, is very difficult to impossible to repair, replace or reset damaged necks, and should only be performed by an experienced luthier.
• Slower Production – Even though this design is affordable, with increased materials and craftsmanship, time production is slower, and consumer costs can be higher. 
• Cannot Mix & Match Necks – You can’t change the neck on a set-neck guitar if you prefer the shape of another.

The last type of guitar neck joint is very different from bolt-on or set necks.

Neck-Thru

What Is A Neck-Thru Construction?

This is a name given to the type of manufacturing that produces the guitar neck and body together in one piece.

Set-through necks are relatively uncommon; only a handful of manufacturers produce such joints.

Neck-thru is when the same piece of wood that makes up the neck of a guitar also makes up the middle section of the body itself. The neck extends and continues through the entirety of the guitar’s body with a single piece of wood.

Using a laminate construction process, 2 pieces of wood are added to both sides of the neck (top and bottom of the body), making up “wings,” which become the bottom and top third of the guitar.  This section then mounts the hardware (i.e. bridge, saddles and pickups.)

(See Image)

History Of The Neck Thru

In 1956 Rickenbacker was one of the first guitar manufacturers to use this design,

First Glance

Unlike the bolt-on and set-neck constructions, you won’t see any separation between the neck and body of the guitar. (See Image)

Durable

The Neck-thru gives guitar makers more opportunity to laminate and bind different wood types together and offers incredible durability.

Because neck-thru guitars are often made of different types of wood (3-7 pieces), the neck will be less susceptible to conditions that might cause warp and twists. It’s almost like the woods counteract each other for more stability. (See Image)

Production

The neck-thru design is usually only ever used on a brand’s premium/higher-end guitars, as they are typically a lot more complicated to make and much more expensive.

It takes a lot of work and precision for a luthier to make a guitar with this construction; production is slower and more costly.

Risk

One of the biggest risks of owning a neck-through-body guitar is the possibility of irreversible damage.

Extreme FretBoard Freedom

With This neck-thru design, luthiers can shape and contour the neck in ways that are impossible with bolt-on or set neck constructions, creating extreme freedom in the upper range of the fretboard; for there is no heel at the neck joint.

Neck-thru guitars tend to transition from neck to body smoothly, making it extremely enjoyable to play on the higher Fretboard regions. (See image)

Sound Type

The Neck-thru constructions generally offer better Tonal quality, resonance and sustain than the previous designs because there is no junction point or separation between the neck and the body, with the string vibration perfectly travelling the length of the entire guitar.

The strings will vibrate the entire piece of wood that is housing the pickups and transfer sound to your amp.

A Gibson Firebird is a famous example, with the pickups mounted on the piece of wood that runs through the body. Neck-through has also been hailed as one of the best when it comes to sustainability.

Advantages

• Top Quality Tone Resonance & Sustain – With no separation between neck and body, tone resonance and sustain are optimized.
• Fretboard Freedom -Offers the best upper fret access, ease of play and comfort out of all neck joint types
• Increased Strength – with better tuning stability.
• Cosmetics – The construction design has a look that is super slick and clean.

Disadvantages

• Impossible To Replace – Depending on the damage, you may need to purchase an entirely new guitar.
• More Difficult & Expensive To Build -Due to the complexity, a lot of skilled labour and time is needed, which increases manufacturing costs.
• Cannot Mix & Match Wood  – This design limits your opportunity for customization

Do Neck Thru Necks Still, Need Truss Rods?

Being that A Neck Thru Design is much more sturdy and durable; and less likely to react to temperature and humidity changes, a truss rod is still needed to compensate for the string tensions on the neck.

Video

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, this post is a guideline for the different guitar neck constructions, but it’s most important to let your hands and ears make the decisions, for every guitarist has different preferences.

Even though different neck designs contribute to the overall tone and playability of the instrument, choose one that is right for you and your musical style.

Try out a lot of different guitars and see what feels right within your price margins.

Compare models that are of similar build quality and specifications.

Consider the entire guitar as a whole.

It’s also worth having different guitars in your arsenal to get those different sounds.

Other Factors

There are other factors to consider, like craftsmanship and the quality of the build (i.e. type of bridge, tuners, pickups, etc.) individually and collectively combined; the neck joint will play less of a role than most people think.

You will find high-quality, great-sounding guitars of all varieties, whether bolt-on, set-neck or neck-thru.

Did You Like This Article?

Check out my post on if you need a Guitar String Dampener

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As always, stay the course and keep playing.

Feature Image of 3 Neck Constructions courtesy of Amazon

Image of Les Paul Courteys of  Moerschy from Pixabay

Final thoughts image courtesy of bing.com