Neck joint innovations

[Roccorobb]

I've been needing out on neck joints lately.

Ken Parker's patented carbon fiber archtop joint is incredible.

Martins new SC neck joint is cool, though I wish they would put it on a guitar that sounded good.

Taylor's joint is well known and world famous.

Who else has innovative and elegant designs?

I am particularly interested in joints that are completely glue-less, removable, and stable.

Go!

[Aspiring]

Lame horse guitars neck joint is very cool. (Along with a number of other great features).
Adjustable while under tension.

https://lamehorse.net/the-lame-horse-difference-1

[Roccorobb]

I've never heard of Lame horse before. Cool guitars!

[Aspiring]

Originally Posted by Roccorobb

I've never heard of Lame horse before. Cool guitars!

They have exhibited at B.I.G. and several other luthier exhibitions. I found them unique for both the artistry and the musical / playability side.

[Jeff Scott]

My two Yamamoto guitars (Talus VS-12 and MS-12) have a Cumpiano neck joint.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Roccorobb

I've been needing out on neck joints lately.

Ken Parker's patented carbon fiber archtop joint is incredible.

Martins new SC neck joint is cool, though I wish they would put it on a guitar that sounded good.

Taylor's joint is well known and world famous.

Who else has innovative and elegant designs?

I am particularly interested in joints that are completely glue-less, removable, and stable.

Go!

You can take a close look at my preferred neck joint in the CAD drawing in THIS forum topic.

It's nothing special, but it IS "completely glue less, removable, and stable".

Whatever you decide to use, DO NOT fall victim to anyone telling you to use the old Kay Craft adjustable neck joint! I've worked on a couple of those... no thanks!

[printer2]

I can not remember who it is that does a dovetail joint but uses a screw rather than glue to lock it in place. Who the heck is in Eastern Canada?

[sinistral]

Originally Posted by printer2

I can not remember who it is that does a dovetail joint but uses a screw rather than glue to lock it in place. Who the heck is in Eastern Canada?

Martin uses bolts for their simple dovetail neck joints, and I don’t believe any glue is used. They aren’t in Eastern Canada, though.

[Roccorobb]

Originally Posted by Rudy4

You can take a close look at my preferred neck joint in the CAD drawing in THIS forum topic.

It's nothing special, but it IS "completely glue less, removable, and stable".

Whatever you decide to use, DO NOT fall victim to anyone telling you to use the old Kay Craft adjustable neck joint! I've worked on a couple of those... no thanks!

I have often considered buying a kay kraft, just because they look so cool. But yes, the neck joint - while scoring high points for creativity - doesn't inspire confidence

[Sadie-f]

Below is my first build, I'm happy with her, the neck joint is my own design, and will be a one-off. l think it's a bit more structurally sound than most bolted designs. I'm an engineer specializing in materials science, and like to get the details right, however this is a very labor intensive design.

In photos below, see the nuts are captive inside a hollow 1/2" oak dowel glued into the tenon. This means the loading within the neck is in end-grain oak. And if I were being truly thorough, I could have done the same in the neck block, however the bolt loading there is spread wider by a washer, so I think it's stable for the long haul.

The cap screws, captive nuts and washers are all titanium, about 1/2 the weight of steel hardware, and stronger, so I'll say this is about as light as can be done in a bolted neck. It's not a big thing, the weight of a comparably strong bolted mortise and tenon is always going to be heavier than a glued dovetail, and I'll be using a dovetail on all future builds (this design is more work).

I did it this way to enable my plan of changing out tops this build is a (successful so far) experiment, and I have a second top in cedar that I think will have better tone (for what I'm looking for, but it's also going to inform my planning for what build will permanently own a cedar top, and for that, I'm leaning to a black locust b&s instrument. Once I decide which top stays on this guitar, I'll be gluing just the fretboard extension to the top, I'm unlikely to be convinced that bolting the extension to the upper bout is a good design for tone.

I'm planning that all future builds will be dovetail, because it looks to me like less work for a better result. Of course, I can always change my mind, however now that I've been through the exercise of hand fitting neck to body, the idea of a neck reset isn't the least bit daunting.

Finally he truss rod is the Santa Cruz design, it's single acting and considerably lighter than any other design I've seen. It's kinda genius! .. I might build future guitars using a titanium rod, again, lighter still, and against all the other work of building a guitar, I think .. why not? (Well, attaching the TR drive nut will be tricky in Ti)

[gr81dorn]

Originally Posted by Roccorobb

Martins new SC neck joint is cool, though I wish they would put it on a guitar that sounded good. .

Go!

Have you played thr 18 and 28 yet? And, actually, the all sapele one sounds fantastic.

[printer2]

Originally Posted by sinistral

Martin uses bolts for their simple dovetail neck joints, and I don’t believe any glue is used. They aren’t in Eastern Canada, though.

Charles Tauber, I should have looked his name up yesterday but I had to run. I have one guitar ready to attach the neck, will have a screw holding the dovetail joint.

I am guessing these guys know their stuff.

"The 16 Series, and all other similar Series, are either Simple Dovetails after 2012 or M/T prior. Mexican-made Martins still use the M/T neck joints. The M/T necks have a bolt and glue. The Simple Dovetail necks use glue only. None of them would be considered bolt-on in the context which you are asking."

"The single bolt was used to retain the neck while the M&T glue joint set up, but too often ended up carrying the full load after joint failure. Def not an intentional bolt-on design IMO. That said, we see some shops that just tighten the bolt and sending the guitars back out into the world versus addressing the underlying joint failure, so I have to assume that at least some folks see them as true bolt-ons."

https://umgf.com/bolt-on-necks-t1990...20are%20asking.

[pcs264]

I've never actually cared what kind of neck joint a guitar has, as long as it sounds good to me and can be set up to play well (which most reasonably well-made guitars can be). I think the Taylor design is interesting and well thought-out, and many of them are beautiful guitars. But over the years I've bought 3 Taylors and didn't keep any of them for more than a couple of years, because I never came to love their sound. Good tone matters way more than any particular neck joint design.

I've had several wonderful Martins and Guilds for a long time, and none have ever needed a neck reset. If one eventually does, I'm not afraid of that; I'll deal with it if and when the issue arises. And until then I'll continue to play and enjoy these fine guitars I've been fortunate to own.

[JonWint]

Originally Posted by Sadie-f

Finally the truss rod is the Santa Cruz design, it's single acting and considerably lighter than any other design I've seen. It's kinda genius! .. I might build future guitars using a titanium rod, again, lighter still, and against all the other work of building a guitar, I think .. why not? (Well, attaching the TR drive nut will be tricky in Ti)

How did you cut a curved slot for your tension rod? The double rod is heavier but a lot less work than a single. Your photo shows it flat and too near the fretboard bottom surface.

https://www.stewmac.com/video-and-id...s-rod-channel/

[OnTheFidele]

Luke Brunner at Brunner Guitars has two unique necks and neck joints.

His "Brunner Adjustable Neck Connection" is explained here: https://brunner-guitars.com/en/b-models/

His own removable neck concept can be found here: https://brunner-guitars.com/en/b-compact-models/