• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Bolt-on or neck through... which do you prefer?

Which style neck do you like better, and why?

  • Neck-through

    Votes: 37 19.7%

  • Bolt-on

    Votes: 107 56.9%

  • Carrots

    Votes: 44 23.4%
  • Total voters
    188
#24
Generally speaking, I'll choose neck-through for fretless, but it's a toss-up on fretted.

In my experience, neck-through instruments often have better sustain and far less trouble with dead spots, which can really screw up an otherwise decent fretless bass. Tonally, they tend be a little more "colorful," complex and rich in overtones. They usually offer superior upper register access, and IMO, few bolt-ons can touch a well executed neck-through aesthetically.

To my ear, bolt-ons often emphasize the note fundamental, so they can seem a little more focused and punchy, but they can sound a bit tonally compressed and simplistic compared to a good neck-through, particularly on a fretless. Unless the luthier is very creative, the neck heel is often prohibitively bulky; a Fender trademark. I won't even consider a bass that doesn't offer unrestricted access to at least twenty four frets/stops in good position.
 
#25
The only comparison I could make its on warwicks, which I have owned a few of them.
I found the neckthroughs produced a more rounded sound, longer sustain. the Bolt on was just in your face punch, good sustain and faster attack.
the best approach will be set necks, best of both worlds IMHO
;)
 
#26
If you want more midrange, bolt ons tend to have more compared to otherwise identical neck thru models. The latter will also ussually have more treble top as well as a result of the extra maple in the body from the neck thru. A mahogany neck neck thru with mahogany wings will just have little more midrange for the bolt on version compared to the neck thru. I like both, depending on the bass. Of course I'll take a mahogany body 5 peice maple and walnut neck bolt on over one with less desireable wood for body wings neck thru. Both my current basses are bolt on but Ive also modified them with an added layer of wood glue in neck pocket to increase balance from lows to highs. Mod gives most of the set neck sound char with the added glue joint adding to the sound vibration transfer the neck bolts are providing.Ive never hasd a guitar or bass with bolt on that I di9dnt find better sounding to me after doing this simple mod. Though of course the mod gives most improvement to instruments with lower qaulity neck joints.
 
#27
Double Agent said:
Carrots.

The nicest bass I've ever owned was a bolt-on, the next 3 nicest basses I've ever owned were all neck-thru. To me, the neck joint, like pickups, wood composition, etc., is just one ingredient in what makes up a bass. I have a Peavey Cirrus which sounds nothing like a Gibson T-bird which sound nothing like a Spector Euro LX. The tone of a bass is decided by many factors, I've played very punchy neck-thru basses and very smooth bolt-on basses. I'm not saying its irrelevant, but it isn't the biggest factor in what makes a bass good or bad IME.

That said, it is cheaper to make a nice bolt-on than a nice neck-thru.
Click to expand...

I agree. Only I'll answer Neck-through rather than carrots. My top three basses that all kill are bolt-on, set neck, and neck through. Sometimes I believe the bolt-on "punchy" story and then other times I get convinced that it's just me believing it because everybody else is saying it rather than because it's true.

So if tone, sustain, "punch" or attack or what-have-you is not affected by the construction, then what matters? What I DO notice is that the neck-thru has a very smooth transition at the cut-away. It makes reaching high frets MUCH easier. Bolt-ons and set-necks have a kind of bulge there that tends to interfere. Yes, it's a small thing but enough of a real thing to get me to vote neck-thru.
 
#35
I've owned both, and I prefer bolt-on. Neck-thrus have always felt 'delicate' to me in some intangible way, even though I recognize that they are every bit as solid as a bolt-on neck--not that I'm particularly hard on my basses, or anything. Also, bolt-ons sound punchier to me, with more of those pleasing overtones that give an instrument its character. Of course that character, comes with an increased likelihood that a run of the mill bolt-on will come with dreaded deadspots (hell, even my SLO Stingray has a deadspot).

I admit, the added sustain of a neck-thru can be rather pleasing on a fretless. Still, I prefer the attack of bolt-ons.
 
#37
All of my electric basses are bolt-ons. I have reshaped and refinished the body of every electric bass I own (except the blue Curbow 5-string), and bolt-ons make this process far easier than with a neck-though, IME, because I don't have to worry about incidental damage to the neck.

I've never been in a position to perform a meaningful comparision between the sound of a bolt-on versus a neck-through, but I'd very very interested in reading more than the subjective accounts one typically finds on internet forums.
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back