Top Mount or Neck Thru Floyd nut

[P I K A]

Is there a difference? My tech said always go neck thru as it will never give you problems. I never actually noticed but it seems all my Jacksons have the top mount. I did have a neck thru nut once ,just cant remember if it was an Ibanez or Jackson. Anyways he got me thinking if I should drill and replace my current top mount with a neck thru one. What do you think?

[toejam]

Older Jacksons had it through the neck. The top mount is sturdier and you don't ever have to worry about the neck cracking in that area.

[Axewielder]

If you look at a lot of 20-year old necks with bottom-drilled nuts, you'll see they are about 500% more likely to have cracks develop on the back of the neck. Top drilled is the way to go. I've heard some guys having issues with the top drilled ones getting stripped after a lot of nut locking/unlocking, but I've never had this problem.

[sully]

Is there a difference? My tech said always go neck thru as it will never give you problems.

okay, so let's think about this for a moment... the neck thickness in the nut area is often time the thinnest (and weakest) point of the guitar. There's also a truss rod channel routed in that section that will take up roughly 1/4" wide by 3/8" deep (depending on the rod). So now, you've got a very thin piece of wood that's missing a fair amount of wood right down the center of it. It's also under a fair amount of tension from the strings. Now drill two holes that are roughly 1/8" in diameter right through that area (and don't forget to recess the back so they'll sit flush). You're working with a very thin area that is pretty compromised.

To suggest that going through the back of the neck with a floyd nut will never give you problems is careless and uninformed. There's a reason that construction style isn't the norm anymore.

Sully

[MakeAJazzNoiseHere]

I agree with Sully on an angled head/truss rod adjust at head neck. On a heel-adjust truss rod it's not as big of a deal. Also IMO a lot of the cracking is due to over-tightening. THey simply don't need to be that tight, yet you'll see people crank them down almost to the point of the bolt heads stripping, for what I don't know, I guess in a misguided attempt to prevent tuning issues.

I order them that way on Strat-heads because I really think that it's easier to deal with (allows some position adjustment) and stands up to repeated assembly/disassembly, but I would never retro-fit an existing neck with the through holes, especially not a Jackson.

Anyway, a top-mount nut doesn't need anything fixed. On a Jackson (or any head-adjust neck like that) I think it's a bad idea.

[dg]

The one problem that I've seen happen with top-mount that I've never seen happen with through-mount is a shifting nut, where you can get a creaky hinge sound or popping noise during trem use. For me it's happened on 2 out of about 20 guitars. Both of mine were easily fixed with a sliver of toothpick to snug up the screw holes, but occasionally people have had to fill & redrill. That may be what your tech was referring to, but compared to the weakening of that part of the neck, plus the high probability of at least getting stress cracks that'll bum you (or any potential future buyers) out, I still prefer top-mount.

[DonP]

Is there a difference? My tech said always go neck thru as it will never give you problems. I never actually noticed but it seems all my Jacksons have the top mount. I did have a neck thru nut once ,just cant remember if it was an Ibanez or Jackson. Anyways he got me thinking if I should drill and replace my current top mount with a neck thru one. What do you think?

Sounds like you tech is looking for a way to make more money. Top mount is the way to go. How much clamping does a nut need? A Gibson or Fender nut is held in with watered down elmers glue.

[P I K A]

Thanks guys Ill stay with what I have. You guys are awesome saved me money and I woulda been pissed if the necks cracked. Thanks again .