Neckthru + solid Spalt body (no wings) is it possible?
Basically I'm looking at getting a custom guitar designed with the following features; Neckthru design, solid spalt body without wings.
The reason why is, i want the tonal and tuning stability of neckthru, while maintain a visually appealing yet tonally deficient spalt body (Note , I don't really like veneers). Additionally, i don't want a big ugly neckthru running visually down the centre of the guitar.
I figure the only way to do this (without a veneer) is to route a channel through the back of solid spalt body to fit the neck through while maintaining a nice undisturbed face and highly curved and tapered body.
Side note, the reason I don't like veneers is because you get a big ugly grainy sideto the guitar (well from what I've seen) and seem to have a limited ability to curve a veneer around a highly curved and tapped body
My question is, how feasible is this?
Would glue be sufficient for joining the base to the neck, or would it need to be doweled.
If you can construct a guitar like this, do you think I would be losing the benefit of the neckthru with the fitting of a solid spalt body to neckthru in this unusual way?
Thanks in advance for any response.
Logic says that your plan to make a neck thru with a solid spalted body, utilizing a channel on the underside is possible.
The visual appeal is obvious, but I don't think that there are many of the benefits of the normal neck thru design method.
The pickups are supposed to be mounted into a part of the continuous neck, and moreso, bridge components, mainly, to assure the strength and sustain properties, with the emphasis on the "oneness" of all vibration, timbre and sustain. That's what makes an ES-335 work even though it is not a neck thru, but you can almost think of it as being one with centre block.
I believe that glue would be sufficient for joining the continuous neck, or a long tongue, all the way underneath, through the channel in the body. Or, you can end the channel in the lower bout, before you reach the end, for a more unique touch.
That would allow you to use dowels at the unseen end of the neck, but there are situations where it wouldn't be necessary. First, if your question means, can you glue that tongue or protrusion to the neck itself with glue, the answer would be "no'.
You would need dowels in that case, or a dovetail joint, it's not really a case where mortise and tenon is an option. The glue can be yellow carpenter's glue, or heated hide glue, which is best, but tricky to work with. Titebond liquid hide glue is sometimes said to take two years to cure, so due to the controversy over that, I wouldn't use it. I just don't know the truth.
http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?48616-Titebond-Liquid-Hide-Glue
Okay, the biggest exception which will guarantee the strength and integrity of the joint is the type of bridge that you will be using. A stop tail isn't going to help, whether it is wrapover or used with tune-o-matic, or a floating bridge with a lyre type tailpiece. A routed tremolo is out of the question; you would lose the benefits of your construction, which are minimized in my opinion, due to the neck thru being only in the bottom half, basically. Bigsby's are okay, but this isn't my point. My point is that if you use a hardtail or Tele-type bridge, then the mounting screws for the bridge will hold your neck piece in too, along with the glue, and then it's not going anywhere! Just make sure that the neck part is all one piece itself.
If you like your idea, you might want to consider patenting it. However I think that there is no true or full benefit to it. :|
If there is a benefit in sound, tone and sustain, well, all the better for you. I wonder if it would be too hard for many to tell?
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
Thanks for your highly informative and in-depth reply,
I was thinking about a tonpros bridge and tailpiece, hoping they would go far enough through the body to lodge in the neck. Though I guess that depends on how thin the back route is to the face. I definitely wouldn't be using a routed trem as you say it would kill any sustain benefit I had left.
I like your idea of a dove tail down the length of the neck; I suppose with a cnc machine you could make an extremely well fitting join and just glue, however the cost of the guitar will jump dramatically if I go down that route, but its not out of the question.
I think your right about the overall benefits of this design, as it doesn't matter what type of join and glue you use, mash-potato-wood on a neck-thru probably has no really world benefits
Anyway thanks again for your reply, you gave me a lots of food for thought
Sure, don't be discouraged. Go for it. It won't be a failure, it'll still be something unique. Give it some good pickups too. :D
And don't worry about the joint, without CNC. There will be a control cavity somehwere. If needed, and I don't think it will be, you could drill and drive 2 screws at an angle from within the cavity, into the neck 'tongue'. Or better, dowel or screw @ 90 degrees from underneath the pickup(s). The glue should hold however, if your neck is all ONE piece from head to tail. :wink:
You can also go with 24 frets on one variation, and drill down through the last space, and plug the holes with fret markers.
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
