Neck Through vs. Bolt On

[Chasarms]

I just wonder what to do if your neckthru somehow gets warped beyond adjustment. Neck reset feasable? My Hohner Jack needs needs one...

A neck through is not a set neck therefore it can not be re-set. Set neck is like that of a Les Paul or acoustic guitar. Though the neck is "set" into a dovetail, it still a separate piece of wood. A neck through is, as mentioned, a long neck with wings.

If you have warped neck with a neck through, about the only possible repair is to remove the fingerboard, straighten the neck in a jig and then route some channels in it to accept some sort of stabilizer like a graphite rod. Certainly a significant repair.

As to the subject itself, I don't know that I can attribute it directly to the neck through design itself, but I have bought several neck through basses and always seem to part with them fairly quickly.

A while back, I played a Ken Smith bolt on and NT side by side and very much preferred the BO.

 

[ZiggyDude]

This subject is like religion and politics. People have an opinion of what is best for them, and it is truly best everyone follows what is best for them. The discussion is not right or wrong but rather just to explore for fun.

I am familiar with the Tobias article. I did not get the impression he was saying that one was better than the other – though market trends do sway back and forth.

Personally – I notice a big difference in a neck through bass. Most of my basses are – but I have some nice bolt ons. The wood of course also matters. I have been doing some comparisons lately with my EBMM Bongo 5HH and a Spector 5HH, Carvin JH. The last two being neck through. I really like the extra fundamental that some basses get and I also couple that to amp settings where I boost the 31HZ slider. I still get enough punch on quick notes. But – this is what fits me. And – I will always keep some of each type bass around.

 

[wmheilma]

I'm glad I'm not the only one who has wondered these things. My opinion is that the bass is good or not and it has nothing to do with the bolt-on vs. neck through construction. You can look at the wood and make a good guess, but only time will tell whether that neck will stay put.

Here are some thoughts on my basses after 30+ years playing bass with various ones screwing up or not...

-The glued neck on an old Gibson EB-OL I had twisted and that was that.
-The bolt-on neck on my Music man Sabre twisted, and I was able to get it fixed, although it twisted more later so I gave up.
-Neck throughs on my custom 5 and 6-string basses by Dale Bluebond in Philly (rest his soul) have been very stable over all, but in the dry Colorado climate gave me some fuss adjusting the truss rods from time to time. I have two 6's now with slightly different construction and one or the other always has played great. I bought a whole-house humidifier which helps a lot.
-Japanese Fender performer bolt-on neck has been perfect for years with no set up at all! Whoever picked the wood for this neck did a great job.
-Modulus Quantum 6 has bolt-on graphite neck which stays exactly where I put it unless I face the sun for a long outdoor gig on a hot day. Then it backbows until i get in the shade. This is a great bass and I use it for really big venues, but does not have as much character as my favorite old Bluebond.

 

[dvh]

Just adding my voice to those who note that more sustain isn`t necessarily a desirable thing. Has anybody ever found that a bolt-on didn`t have enough sustain for them?

 

[los100malditos]

My Steinberger Synapse XS-1FPA Custom is SET NECK in a way that is almost neck thru, infite sustain if needed, NO DEAD SPOTS, a lot of tonal possibilities, smooth feel in the higher frets access, has graphite reinforcement rod where the truss rod is placed, not affected by the seasonal changes, maple neck but phenolic fingerboard, very smooth woody tone, or metal highs if needed ... great slapping, when played without an amp you can feel the vibration through the hole thing, i can hear every damn note always, incredible lows and highs, no need to spend thousands.

 

[SanDiegoHarry]

Arrrg... Another Sticky, plz!!!

 

[Orangeclawhammr]

I only looked at the first page of this thread, so I'm sorry if this has already been said. I have one of each. I sound equally bad on either of them.

 

[maturanesa]

if a tight neck pocket is a sign of good construction in a bolt on,
you got already done with a neck-through...

 

[Rockmusician]

I have owned bolt on, set in and neck through and never noticed a difference based soley on the neck. I agree that it has more to do with pickups than anything else. I have a 1977 Precision that is one of the best sounding basses I have ever heard. Original passive pickups with a nice warm sound. I also have an Alembic Epic with a set in neck that sounds great. Active electronics with a lot of punch but I can also get a warm vintage sound. Last year, I bought a Carvin neck through that I hated and sold it one week after I bought it. I recently bought a bolt on Spector Euro ReBop that sounds great because it has EMG pickups. The only problem is that the pickups are so hot that as soon as I turn them up to the point that I can hear them, it is too loud. It makes it difficult to switch basses during a gig.

 

[madbass6]

Any opinions on why you prefer neck through to bolt on necks and vice versa. Especially interested in feelings about instruments that have been made both ways but have the same woods. Additionally, and more important to me, how do the two affect tone? Thanks

Bolts : more punch!
Neckthrus: more sustain!

Dont know about anyone else but as a Bass player i prefer more punch ! Just saying!!

 

[GreyBeard]

I have owned both and I like them both.

 

[Glunkus]

I thought neckthrough was meant for having access to the higher frets more easily?

 

[nostatic]

17 year old thread - may be a zombie record

 

[JJ4Bass]

The biggest difference I have noticed between the two is that neck throughs don't have the dead spots that most bolt on have at the 5th fret on the G string.

 

[JW56789]

I've played both for many years and my experience, discounting various wood recipes and just the difference in construction, is this:

I think the difference in sustain is, in general, overstated. In my experience, a well-built bolt-on bass will sustain as well on a loud stage as a neckthru. I agree with Lindy Fralin that a relatively soft body with a hard bright neck is the best direction for a Fender-ish instrument, whether Tele or Jazz Bass.

I think if you need a 24 fret neck, neck-thrus are better, as it's easier to play up there if you have that smooth transition into the body instead of running up against a heel for the 4 or more bolts. Also, since you don't need a certain amount of wood for the neck/body bolt joint, a neck thru body can be thinner front to back, which can be a factor for some.

I'd completely agree that the neck to body joint on a bolt-neck loses some of the fundamental and 1st and 2nd harmonics. This is very subtle, and by no means present 'automatically' in a neck thru, but in my Alembics, I could always hear that 'bottom' of the note that I never hear on my Jazz. It's a very subtle difference that not everybody hears or cares about, but since I've heard it, I know what to listen for. On my Elan, with low C's or D's, there was a certain part of the note that sounded like a low, repeating beat that I've rarely heard anywhere else. How useful or necessary it was 'in the real world', I never completely grasped, but it was amazing to hear. Alembic offers a maple and ebony neckthru option: I played one once, and it's the end of the world for present fundamentals, just startling in its' presentation, but it's a rare and expensive proposition. But this is a very subtle thing, and no one would say a PBass or Jazz is 'lacking' in deep end.

I always think there are horses for courses, and every time I hear a seriously expensive neckthru played thru a state of the art rig, I'm later just as blown away by a guy really riding his PBass thru an SVT and making it walk and talk. It's just another available choice, and hooray for that.

 

[FugaziBomb]

This thread is almost 20 years old...

That being said, IME the only thing that neck through basses provide over bolt ons with any consistency is looks -and maybe a nice contoured heel. Seems like neck-through is mostly aesthetics, though I'm sure a lot of people will disagree. The problem is that 2 basses from the same line built at the same time may sound drastically different from one another, so to try and compare two vastly different basses from different manufacturers to deduce the effect of neck construction is an exercise in futility. I just played one of the newer MM neck through Stingrays and it's tone was pretty much identical to my bolt on Stingray. YMMV

 

[Badwater]

I had guitars with both as well as set neck design. All 3 types have their pros and cons. With acoustics and semi hollow body I prefer the set neck design for easier repairs down the road. With electric solid bodies, I prefer the bolt on necks because they are modular, and can be adjusted a lot easier than a set neck or neck through (Think neck shim). I also like the deep pocket bolt on design with individual screws and furrels and contour vs a square plate, as the deeper neck and individual screws (think Yamaha BB series) allows for a tight connection without the side to side neck movement (think Fender 4 screw plate).

 

[GIBrat51]

Honestly? I really don't care one way or the other. Paranoid (IMO) fears about the neck turning into a pretzel 30 years from now play no part whatsoever in me deciding what bass I'm going to buy next. All 19 of my basses are simply... just what they are. Big hollowbody Gretsches are set necks -period. P-Basses (with a few rare exceptions) are bolt-on necks - period. Rick 4003s and Gibson T-Birds... well, you get the idea. As for tone, sustain, etc.? My T-Bird sounds like.. a T-bird. All my basses sound like what they are. Which (surprise, surprise) is why I bought them; not because of how the neck's stuck on...

 

[bassbenj]

I thought neckthrough was meant for having access to the higher frets more easily?

Yes one main advantage to neck-through is better access to higher frets. Neck joint isn't so "lumpy". However another difference is bolt-ons tend to be a bit more "punchy" if you want that. It depends on the given neck joint construction, however. For these reasons I tend to prefer neck-through for 6 string basses and bolt-on for passive old school basses. And typically many already come that way.

 

[JGbassman]

For me, the neck through just feels more solid. I can get the action closer with less issue than a bolt on. I also like how the neck/join feels on the neck through compared to a bolt on.

I can't really say anything about sustain or voicing, because I've never had the same model bass as both to compare. For me, it's more about the feel, and I'd pick neck through if I could for all my basses. I've actually entertained the though of having a pbass built as a neck through by a custom shop. I have never seen one, so I'm guessing it doesn't sound as good. This many years I'm sure it's been tried.