PVA glue a bolt on neck!!!

[KBDkaTana]

Has anyone every glued a bolt on neck? Di you gain any tonal or sustain improvements? Over to you......

[atdguitars]

I've done it for customers before. It added a little sustain but takes away the ability to really tweak the neck geometry later. If you do it make sure any shims are in place and it's set up perfectly. Remove all paint or laquer from the heel and pocket. Use maple pins through the neck bolt holes and glue the neck in with hide glue or wood glue. It can always be steamed off later if you use hide glue. Once the neck is glued and clamped in place, glue and drive the pins in place and cut them flush with the body. Leave the neck in the clamps for 24-72 hours to allow cure time. Use fluted pins for maximum hold.

[Newc]

But then wouldn't you end up with a thin layer of glue between the flat part of the neck heel and the base of the pocket? Seems to me you'd want direct wood-to-wood contact.

If you've got a bolt-on that's shifting, dowel and redrill the neck and/or body holes.

Also make sure the pocket and heel are touching all the way around and there are no gaps.

[KBDkaTana]

It's not to help a shifting neck, but to improve a bolt on. In other words, what's the advantage if my epi les paul being glued on? It must have been for a reason?

I'm not necessarily thinking of glueing to the extent that it can't be removed. I would think that a sllght bit of PVA with the bolts would ensure that there is no movement, but does this improve tone / sustain?

[atdguitars]

Gluing the bolts won't help sustain. Will just keep them from working loose as the wood swells and shrinks. Glued on or set necks are done for structural integrity and for resonance. Unless it's dovetailed or uses a form of a box joint where there is a large surface area being glued the increase in sustain will be minor. On some set necks the heel actually goes far enough into the body the pickup route for the bridge is cut into the heel.

[Grandturk]

I think this is all fueled by the common misconception that a set neck or a neck-through is inherently "better" than a bolt on neck. That's just not the case.

[atdguitars]

Leo figured out that bolt ons were easier to make and faster to produce a finished product. I agree neither is better than the other. Sustain is all about how you hold your tongue anyways.

[VitaminG]

Leo figured out that bolt ons were easier to make and faster to produce a finished product. I agree neither is better than the other. Sustain is all about how you hold your tongue anyways.

thank you, Mr Tufnel